‘We Are Not Criminals’

Congress’s Kerala MP Shashi Tharoor tweeted a letter purportedly written by detained National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah on late Thursday night and demanded the NC chairperson be allowed to attend Parliament as a matter of “parliamentary privilege”.
Tharoor argued that participation in Parliament was essential for maintaining “democracy and popular sovereignty” and cautioned against using the “tool of arrest to muzzle opposition voices”.
“Letter from imprisoned FarooqSaab. Members of Parliament should be allowed to attend the session as a matter of parliamentary privilege. Otherwise, the tool of arrest can be used to muzzle opposition voices. Participation in Parliament is essential 4 democracy & popular sovereignty,” tweeted Tharoor.
The posted letter allegedly written by Farooq Abdullah is the first such communication from the 82-year-old detained Lok Sabha member from Srinagar after the scrapping of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status enshrined in Article 370 and the former state’s bifurcation into two union territories.
Abdullah says he is in a “sub-jail” and complains that posts are not being delivered to him “on time”. It goes on to say that this was “not the way to treat a senior member of the Parliament and leader of a political party”.
“We are not criminals,” says Abdullah’s sign off comment on the letter dated December 2, 2019.
The letter appears to have been written on Abdullah’s official letterhead as a Member of Parliament and bears the official seal along with the leader’s name and designation. It mentions Abdullah’s address as “Sub-Jail, 40 Gupkar Road, Srinagar”.