Public Safety Act though condemned over decades for its use as a tool of political victimization by many popular governments of the erstwhile Jammu & Kashmir state but the blind application of this blind law for political victimization was the pride of Kashmir’s mainstream’s till August 5 this year when the mainstream leaders irrespective of their party affiliation were bundle into jails in Srinagar. One won’t have even imagined that PSA would be slapped some day for some reason against the son and grandson of the architect of this blind law late Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah who also has the distinction of being the architect of the accession of erstwhile Jammu & Kashmir state with the Union of India and article 370 invoked for special status to Jammu & Kashmir by Delhi decades ago. Shocking and insulting it is that the erstwhile Jammu & Kashmir state was bifurcated into two union territories and special status under article 370 was withdrawn by Delhi in just one stroke but Public Safety Act (PSA) the special blind law invoked by erstwhile Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah led Jammu & Kashmir government for jailing and silencing the dissenting political voices in Kashmir has been allowed to stay just for it’s use specially against late Abdullah’s son and grandson besides another former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti and some former ministers . No one would have imagined it before August 5 last year that leaders who who take pride in slapping PSA a blind law on the dissenting political voices in Kashmir would be detained under the same draconian law someday.
Not only the governments’ headed by Abdullahs’ but the heads of other popular government also applied this blind law blindly against political rivals just for silencing dissenting political voices in Kashmir. Though very rightly some of the top political leaders sitting in opposition are raising questions over the slapping of PSA on Abdullahs’ and Muftis blindly by the incumbent central government but they themselves owe explanation to people of Jammu & Kashmir for allowing the blind use of this blind law by the governments headed by Abdullahs and others in Jammu & Kashmir from time to time. By all standards of understandabilities the critics of the detention of mainstream leaders cease the moral rights to ask questions over PSA as they themselves as central ministers were the supporters and sponsors of political detentions under PSA in Jammu & Kashmir not once but hundreds of times .