PDP’s Peer Mansoor slapped with PSA

SRINAGAR — Former political advisor and close aide of PDP president Mehbooba Mufti, Peer Mansoor, was booked under the stringent Pubic Safety Act (PSA) by the Jammu and Kashmir administration on Wednesday.

Mansoor is the fourth senior party leader including the former J&K chief minister Mehbooba Mufti to be booked under the PSA in the last couple of weeks, the daily Kashmir Monitor reported.

Peer Manzoor, a former legislator who hails from south Kashmir, was detained ahead of revocation of Article 370 on August 05, 2019.

He was served PSA detention order on Wednesday night by the officials at the MLA hostel, where he was being kept.

“Yes, Peer Mansoor has been booked under PSA and was served last night,’’ a senior PDP leader said on Thursday.

Peer Mansoor continues to remain lodged at the MLA hostel along with bureaucrat turned politician Shah Faesal and Hilal Lone, son of Baramulla MP Akbar Lone.

The MLA hostel has been converted into a sub-jail, where as many as 34 political leaders of various mainstream parties like the National Conference (JKNC), People’s Democratic Party (PDP), People’s Conference (JKPC) and People’s Movement (JKPM) have been kept since November 17 last year.

They were previously kept in detention at the Centaur Hotel since the abrogation of J&K’s special status on August 05, 2019.

In the last three weeks, most of the leaders have either been shifted to their homes or other detention centers.

Shah Faesal and Hilal Lone were booked under the PSA for three months on February 15 and 10 respectively.

Earlier, senior Jammu and Kashmir leaders, Naeem Akhtar and Sartaj Madni, both from the PDP, were shifted to M5 quarters from the MLA hostel along with Ali Mohammad Sagar (NC), after they were slapped with the PSA.

Two former chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, who are under detention at two separate places, were also booked under the PSA on February 06. NC president Farooq Abdullah is detained at his Gupkar house.

On February 05, PC chairman Sajjad Lone and PDP youth president Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra were released from the MLA Hostel and put under house detention.

The administration had released five mainstream leaders including three former legislators from detention on January 16 and five others on December 30, 2019.