Jammu: Shamas Udin Malik, father of Aam Aadmi Party MLA Mehraj Malik, who was detained under the stringent Public Safety Act in Jammu and Kashmir’s Doda district, has told Chief Minister Omar Abdullah that he cannot keep fighting in courts and wants his son released.
Malik, an outspoken critic of the government, was arrested and placed in Kathua jail on Monday for purportedly disturbing public peace. The invoking of the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA), a law often used against terrorists and separatists, against the elected representative has ignited a political firestorm in Jammu and Kashmir.
Widespread protests erupted in Doda, where authorities have imposed prohibitory orders and detained over 70 persons after violent clashes broke out between protesters and security personnel. Eight police personnel, including a deputy superintendent of police and a station house officer, were injured in the clashes that began on Tuesday.
The PSA, a stringent law typically invoked against militants and separatists, being applied to an elected representative has sparked political uproar in Jammu and Kashmir.
Meeting Omar Abdullah on Tuesday, Shamas Udin said, “I gave my son to people, now I want him back. I told him I don’t want to keep visiting courts. I requested him to talk to the lieutenant governor and get my son released.” He added that his son’s detention amounted to “personal vendetta” by the deputy commissioner of Doda.
He alleged that the deputy commissioner had turned personal disputes with the MLA over public issues into grounds for detention under the PSA. “The DC made it a personal vendetta. He should be suspended and my son should be released,” he said.
Rejecting allegations that Mehraj Malik had hurt Sikh sentiments, Shamas Udin said his son had long-standing cordial relations with the Sikh community, both in his constituency and in Jammu.
Shamas Udin also sought intervention from senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh, who was in Jammu on Wednesday, but stressed, “I don’t care about the party, I just want my son back.”
Authorities have justified the MLA’s detention, saying it was necessary in the interest of maintaining public order and safeguarding law and order in the region.
