Mushtaq Veeri, Rashid Dawoodi, Abdul Majeed Dar Almadni

The Act allows preventive detention of up to two years without trial

Seven clerics, including two prominent religious scholars, were arrested under the Public Safety Act (PSA) in the past 24 hours in the Kashmir Valley. The Act allows preventive detention of up to two years without trial.

A senior police officer told The Hindu on Thursday that two religious figures and five Jamaat-e-Islami activists were arrested under the PSA so far. Those arrested include Moulana Abdul Rasheed Dawoodi, patron, Tehreek-e-Soutul Awliya; and Moulana Mushtaq Ahmad Veeri, a prominent figure of the Jamiat-Ahle Hadees.

Preliminary reports suggested that the Islamic religious scholars were shifted from the Kashmir Valley to a Jammu jail.

Sources identified two arrested prominent clerics of the banned JeI as Fahim Ramzan and Gazi Moinudin.

Sources said Abdul Majeed Dar Almadni, also affiliated to the Jamiat-Ahle Hadees, was also detained. However, officials could not confirm it immediately.

This is the first major clampdown on clerics representing different schools of Islamic thought in J&K since the Centre ended its special constitutional position on August 5, 2019.

The grounds of the detentions were not divulged by the security agencies till late Thursday evening.