Ram Madhav says only 200-250 people put under preventive detention in Jammu and Kashmir, claims there is peace in the Valley

Bharatiya Janata Party General Secretary Ram Madhav has said there are “only 200 to 250 people” in preventive detention in Jammu and Kashmir, PTI reported on Monday. “They have been kept under preventive detention respectfully, some in five-star guest houses, some in five-star hotels,” he said at an event in New Delhi.

Madhav said around 2,000 to 2,500 people were kept in detention when the Centre revoked the state’s special constitutional status on August 5. Since then, the Kashmir Valley has been peaceful, he claimed. “You can understand what do the people of Kashmir want and what these 200 to 250 people want,” Madhav added.

His comments came even as restrictions, including a communication blockade, remained in place in the state. Several mainstream political leaders such as former Chief Ministers Mehbooba Mufti, Omar Abdullah, and Kashmiri bureaucrat-turned-politician Shah Faesal were taken into custody or put under house arrest after the clampdown last month. Jammu and Kashmir National Conference President Farooq Abdullah was booked under the “public order” section of the Public Safety Act, which allows one to be detained for six months without trial.