Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Friday termed extension of Public Safety Act (PSA) for three months on party President, Mehbooba Mufti “highly undemocratic, unconstitutional and inhuman approach of the government.”
In a statement, party spokesperson Syed Suhail Bukhari reiterated that such “vindictive measures” will not deter the PDP from pursuing its core agenda and speak truth to power.
The spokesman said such measures were aimed to intimidate and will have far-reaching consequences and were bound to only increase the level of alienation and frustration among people who have been “plundered of their identity.”
He said it was bizarre that for the past six months, while the petition against the illegal detention of Mehbooba was pending in the Supreme Court, the government was hell-bent to “hound” the PDP President through such “illegal, unethical and undemocratic measures.”
The party spokesman the PDP has a clear stand that ideas cannot be chained, banned or killed and that in democracy, ideas should be allowed to flourish and not choked.
“No quantum of pressure and intimidation can push us into submission and to give up on our resolve to fight for the honor and dignity of the people of J&K. It is ironic that by taking such undemocratic, unconstitutional and unnatural measures, the BJP still believes in the efficacy of these methods and is trying to repeat the old mistakes which will be meaningless and will prove counterproductive,” said the spokesman.