SRI NAGAR: The Jammu and Kashmir government on Saturday booked a detained PDP leader under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) and put two National Conference leaders under house arrest after their release from detention. Official sources said Srinagar District Magistrate Shahid Iqbal Choudhary issued the order invoking the PSA against senior PDP leader and former minister Naeem Akhtar, a confidant of PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti.
Akhtar, who was lodged at the MLA hostel, was shifted to M-5 government quarters at the high- security Gupkar zone in Srinagar. NC leader Ali Mohammad Sagar and PDP’s Mohammad Sartaj Madni, the uncle of Mehbooba Mufti, are already lodged there, after the PSA was invoked against them on Thursday. On the same day, two detained former CMs Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah were booked under the PSA. A person can be detained without trial for three to 24 months under the PSA.
So far, six mainstream leaders, including three former CMs Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, were booked under the stringent law. While Farooq is detained at his residence in Gupkar, Omar is lodged at government hut at Hari Niwas Palace and Mehbooba is placed in government accommodation in Maulana Azad Road, Srinagar.
Meanwhile, authorities released National Conference leaders Mubarak Gul and Tanvir Sadiq from detention on Saturday. Gul is a former Speaker of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, while Tanvir is a confidant of Omar. Both the mainstream leaders were placed under house arrest at their residences and police contingent was deployed to restrict their movement.
Sixth to face PSA Akhtar became the sixth mainstream leader in Kashmir to be booked under the controversial PSA, which was enacted in 1978