Jammu, Dec 06, TEN Network | Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah has slammed the Centre for not allowing him to attend the ongoing Winter Session of Parliament. Abdullah, who is under detention since August 5 when the government scrapped Article 370 giving special status to Jammu and Kashmir, has written a letter to Congress MP Shashi Tharoor saying the Centre should not treat a senior member of Parliament this way.
“It is most unfortunate that they are not able to deliver me my post in time. I am sure this is not the way to treat a senior Member of the Parliament and leader of a political party. We are not criminals,” the National Conference leader said in his letter.
Farooq Abdullah’s letter to Shashi Tharoor was in response to the one the Thiruvananthapuram MP had written to him in October. “Thank you for your letter on 21st October 2019 which has been delivered to me today by my magistrate who looks after me while I am in the sub-jail,” Abdullah mentioned in his letter.
Tharoor described Abdullah’s detention as an attempt to muzzle the voice of opposition. “Letter from imprisoned Farooq saab. Members of Parliament should be allowed to attend the session as a matter of parliamentary privilege. Otherwise the tool of arrest can be used to muzzle opposition voices. Participation in Parliament is essential for democracy and popular sovereignty,” Tharoor tweeted along with a photo of the letter that he received from Farooq Abdullah.
Farooq Abdullah, who has been detained under the stringent Public Safety Act, is among several political leaders, including his son Omar and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, who have been in detention for over five months now. The government maintains that the restrictions on the Kashmiri leaders were needed to prevent them from inciting people, something which could disturb law and order in the region. (FE)
