Srinagar, Oct 27: The Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah, questioned the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the detention of activist Sonam Wangchuk under the National Security Act (NSA) and Doda MLA Mehraj Malik under the Public Safety Act (PSA).
In an interview with India Today, the Chief Minister said that Sonam Wangchuk’s arrest under the NSA is “similar to the arrest of one of our MLAs, Mehraj Malik, under the PSA.” What’s the justification?” he questioned
“For the last few years, Sonam Wangchuk was your poster boy,” He said refering to the the BJP, adding that “You could hardly have a government function where Sonam Wangchuk wasn’t present.”
Abdullah added that Sonam Wangchuk was beating every drum he could find to congratulate and thank Prime Minister Modi for granting UT status to Ladakh.
“And now suddenly, Sonam Wangchuk is an agent of Pakistan and has to be arrested and sent to Pakistan.” He said.
The J&K CM further questioned, “How does the BJP reconcile itself to this? I mean, you couldn’t look at a function or a promotional video coming out of Ladakh in the last five years without seeing Sonam Wangchuk somewhere. Now suddenly, he is persona non grata.”
Referring to the arrest of Mehraj Malik, Abdullah said “At least, the BJP didn’t try and sell him as some poster boy for the politics of Jammu and Kashmir.”
However, the CM added that there’s no justification for arresting him (Mehraj Malik) under the PSA.
