News / India

India jails top Kashmir politician for ‘provoking general masses’

Monday, 10 February 2020 6:41 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 10 February 2020 6:48 PM ]

The file photo, taken on April 15, 2019, shows former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah in Srinagar. (By AFP)

A former Kashmir chief minister has been jailed for "instigating and provoking general masses" against the Indian government in the disputed Himalayan valley.

A recently revealed police dossier had said Omar Abdullah, who had been held for the past six months under a law that allows incarceration for up to two years without charge, was "resorting to his dirty politics" and "instigating and provoking general masses" against the central government in New Delhi.

The dossier said Abdullah's influence was a threat because he was "able to convince the electorate to come out and vote in huge numbers even during peak militancy and poll boycotts."

Mehbooba Mufti, another former state leader, had been held under the same law.

Mufti was "a hard-headed and scheming person" whose actions ranged from "speeches glorifying militants to creating fears among (the) majority population based on cheap politics."

Mufti, who had ruled the state in alliance with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was also accused of working with separatists.

Last week, authorities ordered the two held under the contentious Public Safety Act (PSA).

Abdullah's sister has termed the renewed detention orders under the PSA as "unconstitutional" and a "flagrant violation of his fundamental rights."

Abdullah and Mufti are among scores of Kashmiris still held under the PSA, which had previously been mostly used against separatists opposed to Indian rule of the Muslim-majority region.

India strips Kashmir of autonomous status; Pakistan warns of 'all options'

The Indian government has scrapped the special autonomy status for Kashmir after imposing lockdown on the disputed region.

Last August, the Modi administration delivered a surprise executive decree to strip the Indian portion of the Muslim-majority region of its special autonomy status. Modi has claimed that the decision was necessary for Kashmir’s economic development and would stop “terrorism.”

Abdullah and Mufti were detained after the Indian government scrapped the Himalayan region’s autonomy.

Abdullah's father, Farooq, a member of the Indian parliament and former state chief minister, is also held along with politicians, business leaders, lawyers and separatist activists.