Hyderabad: Asaduddin Owaisi on Wednesday called the Central government's ban on PFI "draconian". "While I have always opposed PFI's approach and supported democratic approach, this ban on PFI cannot be supported. A draconian ban of this kind is dangerous as it is a ban on any Muslim who wishes to speak his mind. The way India's electoral autarky is approaching fascism, every Muslim youth will now be arrested with a PFI pamphlet under India's black law, UAPA," Owaisi tweeted.
Slamming Congress he said, "Muslims have spent decades in prison before being acquitted by courts. I have opposed UAPA and will always oppose all actions under UAPA. It runs afoul of the principle of liberty, which is part of the basic structure of the constitution. We should remember that Congress amended UAPA to make it stringent and when BJP amended the law to make it even more draconian, Congress supported it."
"This case will follow the timeline of Kappan, where any activist or journalist is randomly arrested and takes 2 years to even get bail," he warned. "How come PFI is banned but organisations associated with convicts of Khaja Ajmeri bomb blasts aren’t? Why has govt not banned right-wing majoritarian organisations?" he questioned.
