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Regular-article-logo Monday, 13 May 2024

Congress asks if Farooq Abdullah will attend Parliament

Union minister Jitendra Singh said the three former J&K CMs should remain in detention if it helps in maintaining peace in the Valley

PTI Jammu Published 15.11.19, 12:16 PM
Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said the Congress will raise its voice against the detention of mainstream political leaders at Parliament

Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said the Congress will raise its voice against the detention of mainstream political leaders at Parliament Twitter/@Pawankhera

The Congress on Friday attacked the Modi government over the detention of mainstream political leaders in Jammu and Kashmir and asked whether sitting Lok Sabha member from Srinagar Farooq Abdullah will be allowed to attend Parliament from Monday.

The Opposition party also alleged that the Centre had left 'no stone unturned in internationalising Kashmir' and hit out at the government for allowing European Union (EU) lawmakers to visit the Valley but Indian leaders were not granted permission for the same.

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Former chief minister and senior National Conference (NC) leader Farooq Abdullah was detained under the controversial Public Safety Act (PSA).

'Kashmir has been in a lockdown situation for the past 103 days. The Prime Minister is going around the world saying 'all is well',' Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said at a press conference.

He said the government must give reasons as to why it has kept leaders of established political parties under detention.

When Farooq Abdullah 'sings 'Ram Bhajan' or says 'Bharat Mata ki Jai'', he does not think what the response of separatist forces will be, Khera said.

'Is it not that Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti took their oaths under the Constitution of India. Omar has held several positions in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee cabinet, you have been in a government with Mehbooba Mufti, and today you have put them in the same category as the separatists,' the Congress leader said.

During the Parliament session from November 18 to December 13, the Congress will raise its voice for all those mainstream leaders who are under detention in Jammu and Kashmir, Khera said.

On a similar note, Union minister Jitendra Singh said the three former Jammu and Kashmir chief ministers should remain in detention if it helps in maintaining peace in the Valley. Singh made the statement to a group of officers who briefed him about the situation in the newly-created union territory.

In a reference to the detention of former chief ministers Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, Singh said, 'If the situation is peaceful, because they are detained, it is better that they remain detained.'

Most of the top level and second rung separatist politicians have been taken into preventive custody while mainstream leaders, including former chief ministers Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, have been either detained or placed under house arrest.

The government has detained Farooq Abdullah under the PSA, a law enacted by his father and NC founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah in 1978 when he was the chief minister.

In New Delhi, the Congress spokesperson also hit out at the Modi government for granting a delegation of EU MPs access to Kashmir when parliamentarians of the country were not allowed to visit the erstwhile state.

A delegation of 23 EU MPs had been on a two-day visit to Kashmir last month aimed at a first-hand assessment of the ground situation in the Valley after the revocation of the state's special status under Article 370.

'We would like to make it clear... Kashmir was, is and will always be an integral part of India,' he said.

Not just former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and ex-home minister Vallabhbhai Patel, but also all those mainstream leaders in detention in Jammu and Kashmir today have made an important contribution in Kashmir being an integral part of India, Khera said.

'Operation successful and the patient is dead, is that your solution,' he said.

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