Days after his arrest, Mehraj Malik is still under detention in Kathua Jail, making it the first instance when a sitting and elected MLA has been arrested under the controversial Public Safety Act.
The Act itself has been an issue of debate among legal and constitutional bodies, and international rights organisations for its several provisions, including the detention of a person for two years without charges.
National Conference president Dr Farooq Abdullah, on Saturday, came in support of the detained MLA under the Public Safety Act (PSA), terming it an unjustified step that could have been resolved through dialogue.
Farooq said, “Malik’s words may have been unparliamentary in nature, spoken out of anger, but slapping PSA on an elected representative is wrong. The matter could have been solved with dialogue.”
He appealed to the Prime Minister and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to scrap the PSA against Malik.
“Mistakes happen in the heat of the moment, but the answer lies in compassion, not coercion. The entire Doda region is disturbed, and only empathy and dialogue can bring calm,” Dr Farooq added.
He said such matters must be handled with compassion and not by escalating the situation; these are political matters that must be resolved through dialogue and not through invoking criminal laws against him.
Follow us
