P Chidambaram, the senior Congress leader slammed the government for invoking the Public Safety Act against former Jammu and Kashmir chief ministers Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah and said the detention without charges is “the worst abomination in a democracy.”

Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti who were under preventive detention for the past six month, were on Thursday night booked under the Public Safety Act (PSA) without charges, barely hours before their arrest was to come to an end.

Taking to Twitter early morning, in a series of tweets Chidambaram said, “Shocked and devastated by the cruel invocation of the Public Safety Act against Omar Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti and others”.

Shocked and devastated by the cruel invocation of the Public Safety Act against Omar Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti and others.

— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) February 7, 2020

The former home minister further tweeted, “Detention without charges is the worst abomination in a democracy. When unjust laws are passed or unjust laws are invoked, what option do the people have than to protest peacefully?”

Detention without charges is the worst abomination in a democracy

When unjust laws are passed or unjust laws are invoked, what option do the people have than to protest peacefully?

— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) February 7, 2020

Hitting out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chidambaram said, “the PM says that protests will lead to anarchy and laws passed by Parliament and legislatures must be obeyed. He has forgotten history and the inspiring examples of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela”.

PM says that protests will lead to anarchy and laws passed by Parliament and legislatures must be obeyed. He has forgotten history and the inspiring examples of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela.

— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) February 7, 2020

Unjust laws must be opposed through peaceful resistance and civil disobedience. That is satyagraha, he added.

Several political leaders were picked up from their residences on August 5 last year, the day the Centre had withdrawn the special status given to J-K under Article 370 of the Constitution and divided the state into two Union Territories — Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir.

The two Union Territories came into existence on October 31 last year.

A total of 35 mainstream politicians were moved from the Centaur Hotel on the banks of the Dal Lake to the MLA Hostel on November 18 as Srinagar reeled under harsh winter and the hotel lacked proper heating arrangement.

Meanwhile, the three former chief ministers Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti — continue to remain under detention and are now facing PSA.