Only 200-250 Under Custody in J&K, Total Peace There: Ram Madhav Defends Valley Detentions

Speaking at an event in Aurangabad, in poll-bound Maharashtra, the senior BJP leader also noted that those in custody are undergoing 'respectful detention.' According to Madhav, the leaders have been detained in five-star guest houses and in five-star hotels.

New Delhi: BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav on Monday defended detentions of prominent Valley politicians in the wake of Centre’s August 5 abrogation of special status to Jammu and Kashmir, noting that ‘only 200-250 are under preventive detention’ due to which there has been peace in Kashmir since two months.

His comments came on a day the Supreme Court turned down a petition filed by MDMK chief and Rajya Sabha MP Vaiko against ‘illegal detention’ of former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, who has been under house arrest since August 5.

Speaking at an event in Aurangabad, in poll-bound Maharashtra, the senior BJP leader said, ” Today in J&K only 200-250 people are under preventive detention in view of the law and order. They’ve been kept under preventive detention respectfully, some in five-star guest houses, some in five-star hotels.”

He continued, “I would also like to say that 200-250 people have been put under preventive detention and there has been peace in Kashmir for 2 months. You can understand what do the people of Kashmir want and what do these 200-250 people want.”

The BJP is expected to rake up the abrogation of Article 370 in Maharashtra as well as Haryana, both of which are currently governed by the saffron party and go to polls on October 21. BJP national president and Union Home Minister Amit Shah at a rally in Mumbai, on September 22, has already spoken up on the issue.

Farooq Abdullah is among three former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Ministers, the other two being his son Omar and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti, to be put under house arrest by the Centre. On September 16, he was detained under the Public Safety Act (PSA), just hours before the apex court was to take up Vaiko’s petition against his ‘illegal detention.’

The Supreme Court was scheduled to take up a clutch of Kashmir-related petitions from Tuesday. However, the hearings were later put off by a day due to ‘lack of time’ due to the ongoing daily hearings in the Ayodhya case.