National Conference terms extension of Farooq Abdullah's detention unfortunate

NEW DELHI: The National Conference on Saturday termed "most unfortunate" and "undemocratic" the extension of party president Farooq Abdullah's detention by three months under the stringent Public Safety Act.

"It is the most unfortunate thing to happen," NC provincial president Devender Singh Rana told PTI. "The imposition of PSA on Abdullah is itself a major setback to the mainstream politics of Jammu and Kashmir because he has always stood by the nation and its values," Rana said.

He said the action is "undemocratic".

The detention of 82-year-old Abdullah, a three-term chief minister of erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, was extended on Saturday by three months and he would continue to remain at his residence that has been declared a sub-jail.

Abdullah, also a five-term parliamentarian who became the first chief minister against whom the public safety law was invoked, was among a host of leaders and activists who were detained on August 5 when the Centre abrogated Article 370 provisions and bifurcated the state into two union territories -- Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

Former chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti and several other leaders have also been under detention since August 5. The National Conference has been demanding the release of detained leaders and creation of a conducive political atmosphere on the plea that the democracy being in peril in this part of the country is in nobody's interest.