Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir police has arrested a senior lawyer of the High Court under stringent Public Safety Act (PSA), third in the last two weeks as the High Court Bar Association was preparing for its internal elections.
Advocate Mian Muzaffar, who is nephew of the former Bar president Mian Qayoom, was arrested by the police on Sunday midnight from his home in Srinagar and subsequently booked under Public Safety Act.
Reports quoting family members said that he has been shifted to Kathua jail in Jammu region. Mian Muzaffar is a senior lawyer of the high court and was member of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association. Mian Qayoom, the former Bar president, was arrested two weeks ago in advocate Babri Qadri's murder case.
The police also arrested senior advocate Nazir Ahmad Ronga under Public Safety Act and jailed him in Kathua, his son Umair Ronga had said. Ronga was the acting chairman of the bar Association and he was arrested hours after the Bar issued a notification for its internal elections. The notification has now been suspended after the arrests.
While the police has arrested Qayoom in Qadri's murder case, it has not issued any statement about the arrest of Muzaffar and Ronga. The fresh arrest spree of Bar Association members follows lawyers body mulling its internal elections. The Bar has not been allowed by the L-G administration to conduct its elections after the abrogation of the Article 370.
The Jammu & Kashmir administration had asked the Bar to clear its stand on the "Kashmir dispute" matter which the Bar had mentioned in its constitution. Last week, the bar clarified to the District Magistrate Srinagar that it is has removed the "Kashmir dispute" term from its constitution and will be working for the lawyers welfare. While the Bar was planning to conduct its elections, the Jammu and Kashmir administration gave its nod to the registration to Kashmir Advocates Association that has objected to the elections of the bar.
