Mehbooba against unilateral extension of anti-terror law to J&K

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President Mehbooba Mufti has said that any anti-terror law devised for the country can't be extended to the State of Jammu & Kashmir without the consent of the State legislature.

Addressing a series of election meetings in Eidgah constituency of Srinagar today, Mehbooba said her party would in no case allow any unilateral decision on extending any terror laws to J&K including the proposed National Investigating Agency.

Mufti said introducing fresh curbs on civil liberties in J&K would be antithetical to the process of democratisation of the State which is already reeling under the impact of the laws like the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and Disturbed Areas Act.

"This would particularly be an affront to the people of the State who are trying to come out of the trauma inflicted on them by incessant violence of two decades and are sending out strong signals of peace, amicability and tolerance through their current democratic exercise," she said.

The PDP President said, J&K was emerging as an island of peace in the sub-continent and could surrounding areas of the region in rejecting violence as a means of conflict resolution. "The extension of any further curbs on the people here could reverse the positively evolving scenario," she cautioned.

Mehbooba said the Government led by Mufti Mohammad Sayeed had refused to enforce POTA when it took over in 2002 even after the NC Government of Dr Farooq Abdullah in collusion with his RSS mentors in Delhi had already extended it to J&K.