At all-party meet, Opposition raises Farooq Abdullah's detention; Govt non-committal

New Delhi, Nov 17: Ahead of Parliament's Winter Session, the opposition strongly raised Lok Sabha MP Farooq Abdullah's detention and demanded his participation in the House, in the presence of PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.

Raising Farooq Abdullah's detention at the all-party meet, National Conference MP Hasnain Masoodi said that the government is under constitutional obligation to ensure his participation in the Parliament session.

"How can a parliamentarian be detained illegally? He should be allowed to attend Parliament," the NC leader said.

"Government is ready to discuss all issues within the framework of rules and procedures of the Houses," said Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi.

Abdullah is the only political leader detained under the PSA in Kashmir. The decision has come in for criticism by the opposition parties.

The MPs were also agitated about the prolonged detention of Abdullah's son Omar Abdullah as well as PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, both former chief ministers, who have been under detention since scrapping of Article 370 on August 5.

Abdullah has also been accused of misusing political position and asking the new generation to pick up arms and propagate secessionist ideology. The government has made 27 charges against the former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir while detaining him under the PSA. He has also been accused of violating freedom of speech by inciting violence. Further, an incident at Hazratbal held last December, Abdullah had said the efforts of the separatists will not go waste.

In the aftermath of the Pulwama attack, he had said that it was the Indian government and not the terrorists who had done it. The government has also cited his speech in a political rally in which he said that the people should be ready for a mass struggle after the elections to seek freedom from India.

Abdullah is the second politician in J&K to be detained under the PSA after the abrogation of Article 370. Prior to this bureaucrat turned politician, Shah Feasal was also detained under the PSA.

The PSA allows for detention up to two years in the case of persons acting in any manner prejudicial to the security of the State, and for administrative detention up to one year where any person is acting in any manner prejudicial to the maintenance of public order.

The winter session, beginning November 18 till December 13 is set to push for the passage of the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, a key BJP plank which is aimed at granting nationality to non-Muslim immigrants from neighbouring countries.