Srinagar, Sep 13 (KNO): Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and President Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Mehbooba Mufti has taken a jibe at Chief Minister Omar Abdullah over his offer of legal aid to PSA-detained MLA Mehraj Malik, suggesting that instead, he should bear the legal expenses of thousands of Kashmiris in jails whose families cannot afford to fight their cases and that urgent assembly session should be called and resolution against Mehraj Malik's arrest should be unanimously passed.
Speaking to reporters here, as per the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) Correspondent, Mehbooba said that there is a dire need that an urgent Assembly Session should be convened and resolution passed against Mehraj Malik's arrest so that the message could be sent across and the "dangerous precedent" is foiled without delay.
“Look, for the past several days, nothing has been happening except condemnation. Mehraj Malik has been booked under the PSA and sent to jail, and our Chief Minister meets his father and says that he will help with legal proceedings. In my opinion, Mehraj Malik is an MLA and has enough resources to arrange legal aid himself. If his father needed legal aid, he would go to a lawyer, not to the Chief Minister. What happened instead was that the Speaker issued a notice against Waheed Para. The Speaker should have taken note of this incident as well. Omar Sahib should have taken notice, and the Speaker should have urgently called an Assembly session so that this issue could be discussed.”
She added further: “There should have been a discussion about how it is possible that a sitting MLA, against whom there are only allegations of using foul language, is slapped with the PSA and sent to jail. An Assembly session should have been called, a discussion held, and a resolution passed, which should have been sent to Delhi and the Home Minister, to show that this will not be tolerated. This would have increased the pressure to release Mehraj Malik, and in the future, the central government would think a hundred times before slapping PSA on any other sitting MLA. But nothing like this happened.”
Mehbooba said that instead of offering legal aid to Mehraj Malik's father, the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah should have offered such help to those Kashmiri families whose loved ones are in jails and they cannot afford the legal costs. “Omar Sahib says he will provide legal aid; if he really wants to help legally, there are thousands of our prisoners whose families do not have the means, who are inside and outside Jammu and Kashmir, and whose families cannot afford to travel to Tihar, Rajasthan, or UP jails to meet their loved ones, let alone fight their cases. Omar Sahib has had a year; if he really wants to help someone legally, it should be those people.”
As per the PDP President, Mehraj Malik is an honorable MLA, he has the means to bear the expenses for his own legal defense. “His father has already expressed regret and apologized on his behalf. I think there is nothing more his father could have done. I don't think his father met Omar Sahib to get legal aid arranged, anyone can do that. They are not in such dire circumstances that they can't hire a lawyer. His father went to Omar Sahib with the hope that you have 50 MLAs and three Members of Parliament, so you should call a session and put pressure on the Government of India, to show that such injustice to the people and elected representatives of Jammu and Kashmir will not be tolerated by their Chief Minister.”
“But instead, a notice is issued against Waheed Para, the very person who raised the issue. I think this is an injustice. There is still time; I request the Speaker that whatever issues you have with the PDP can be settled later, send notices if you must, but at the same time, call an Assembly session, hold a discussion, and pass a resolution so that in the future, such actions are not repeated against our MLAs.”—(KNO)