SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) – India has extended the detention of four political leaders in Kashmir and a prominent lawyer who have been held since August to quell dissent after the federal government stripped the region of its autonomy, officials and a lawyer said on Friday.
FILE PHOTO: Kashmiris shout slogans in Anchar neighbourhood after Friday prayers during restrictions following scrapping of the special constitutional status for Kashmir by the Indian government, in Srinagar, September 20, 2019. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui/File Photo
The extension was issued under India’s Public Safety Act (PSA) which allows detention without trial for up to two years, the officials in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, told Reuters.
The four leaders include two former chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir – Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti – and two regional party leaders, Ali Mohmmad Sagar and Sartaj Madni, the officials said
The four were originally held under a law that allows a maximum detention of six months and their terms were about to expire. “So they had to be either released or booked under PSA,” said one government official.
“Several other regional leaders who have also completed six months under preventi