SRINAGAR India has extended the detention of four political leaders in occupied Kashmir, including former chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, who have been held by authorities since August of last year after the Indian government scrapped Article 370 of the Indian constitution that granted special status to the occupied region. The latest detention order was issued under the draconian Public Safety Act, which allows detention without charges for up to two years, officials in Srinagar told Reuters. The officials said the detained include Abdullah, Mufti and regional party leaders Ali Mohmmad Sagar and Sartaj Madni. “Slapping the draconian PSA […] is expected from an autocratic regime that books nine-year-olds for ‘seditious remarks’. Question is how much longer will we act as bystanders as they desecrate what this nation stands for?” she said. In a subsequent tweet, she said that the two former chief ministers of occupied Kashmir weren’t jailed for “provocative comments” rather “their crime was to question GOI [Government of India] for its illegal actions in J&K”. “Just because BJP intentionally conflates itself with India doesn’t mean it is India. -KMS
