J&K leader Shah Faesal slapped with PSA

Srinagar : Days after the Public Safety Act (PSA) was slapped against former Jammu and Kashmir chief ministers - Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, bureaucrat-turned-politician Shah Faesal has been booked under the stringent law, sources said here on Saturday.

The former IAS topper is the seventh mainstream politician of Kashmir who has been booked under the PSA which allows detention from three months to two years without a trial.

Earlier, senior Peoples' Democratic Party leader Naeem Akhtar was booked under the Public Safety Act. National Conference General Secretary Ali Mohammad Sagar and senior PDP leader Sartaj Madni, uncle of Mehbooba Mufti, have also been booked under the PSA.

Omar's father, three-time former Chief Minister and sitting MP, Farooq Abdullah is already booked under the PSA and lodged at his Srinagar residence, which has been designated as a sub jail.

The Jammu and Kashmir Congress on Saturday criticised the administration for slapping the stringent Public Safety Act on mainstream politicians in the Valley, accusing the BJP of using "pressure tactics" against its opponents.

"It is not only about valley, the BJP government is implicating anyone who is opposing its policies throughout the country and are misusing the law like PSA which is most abused over the past four decades," Congress state president G A Mir told reporters during a protest demonstration in Jammu.