Srinagar: PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday criticised the arrest of people for holding protests towards Israel over the Middle-East battle throughout a corona curfew in the Union Territory.
“People all over the world are protesting against the atrocities committed by Israel on Palestine. But in Kashmir it’s a punishable offence where an artist is booked under PSA & a preacher is arrested simply for expressing solidarity with Palestinians,” Mehbooba Mufti alleged on Twitter.
People all around the world are protesting towards the atrocities dedicated by Israel on Palestine. But in Kashmir its a punishable offence the place an artist is booked beneath PSA & a preacher is arrested merely for expressing solidarity with Palestinians.
— Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) May 16, 2021
On Saturday (May 15), police arrested 21 individuals from Srinagar and Shopian districts for holding pro-Palestine protests throughout a curfew imposed in the UT as a result of COVID-19 pandemic.
The police additionally arrested a South Kashmir-based spiritual preacher Sarjan Barkati for allegedly delivering an inflammatory speech on Eid day. Barkati had expressed assist for the people of Palestine.
The PDP chief alleged that “Kashmir is an open-air prison” and “there is no outlet left to express one’s opinion”.
The PDP president, whereas referring to the detention of two sons of late separatist chief Mohammad Ashraf Sehrai, stated the Public Safety Act (PSA) was the Centre’s “go-to method for every problem” in Kashmir.
The two had been detained from their residence in the Barzulla space of town late Saturday night in reference to a case registered by police in Kupwara district on May 6 after pro-freedom slogans had been raised on the separatist chief’s funeral, officers stated.
(inputs from PTI)
