Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association officiating president Nazir Ahmad Ronga was reportedly arrested around 1am on Thursday from his Srinagar home and booked under the Public Safety Act, apparently as a consequence of his attempt to resume the stalled election process of the top lawyers’ body.
Ronga’s son Umar, also a lawyer, confirmed the arrest and told The Telegraph: “Police have told us that he has been booked under the Public Safety Act and is lodged in (Jammu’s) Kot Bhalwal jail. They (the police along with Ronga) have already left for the jail. We have, however, not received the order,” he said.
The police have not officially confirmed the arrest or detention of Ronga, 75, under the PSA.
Umar took to X to disclose details about his father’s arrest. “My father, Adv. N.A. Ronga, the Chairman of the J&K High Court Bar Association, has just been arrested in a deeply disturbing turn of events. At 1:10am, a contingent of J&K Police arrived at our home without any arrest warrant, merely stating, ‘It’s an order from above (upar se order hai)’. We are left in a state of shock and profound distress. We can only hope this is not another instance of the PSA being misused to intimidate the members of the J&K High Court Bar Association,” he posted on Thursday morning.
He uploaded two videos, one of them purporting to show policemen taking away Ronga, dressed in a lawyer’s uniform.
Around a fortnight back, the police arrested former Bar chief Mian Qayoom for his alleged role in the 2020 murder of fellow lawyer and TV panellist Babar Qadri. His family has denied any involvement.
On June 26, the Srinagar district magistrate asked the police to prevent the Bar from holding elections, citing threat to peace and its separatist ideology as reasons.
The Bar is known for espousing the cause of “azaadi” in the past and no elections have been allowed since 2020. The Bar had initially decided against holding the polls but on Wednesday, the process was resumed.
A lawyer in Srinagar said the election body of the Bar issued a notice inviting applications for the post of president and office-bearers. “The date for scrutiny of forms, withdrawal of nomination and polling shall be notified separately,” the notice read.
The move had itself followed the Bar’s decision to drop a controversial line wherein its members were obliged to work “towards a peaceful settlement of the Kashmir dispute”.
“That was a massive climbdown and members thought this would please the government and there would be no restrictions on elections. But alas, that was not the case. It seems the government does not want any election at all,” he said.
“Some senior police and civil officers visited the high court (in Srinagar) for discussions with lawyers and wanted to know whether they would still go ahead with the elections. They were told they had no intention of doing it.”
“...GOI hasn’t only failed to end militancy but is venting its frustration by launching a vicious crackdown on helpless Kashmiris. Nazir Ronga is the latest victim of its oppressive actions,” former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti posted on X.
Moderate Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq “denounced the nocturnal arrest of Ronga from his home, slapping of the PSA on him and shifting him to Kot Bhalwal”.
