Five union leaders have been detained under the Public Safety Act in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar district for allegedly attempting to “obstruct” the construction of hydropower projects in Chenab Valley, the Kashmir Times reported on Monday.

Those detained were identified as Mohammad Abdullah Gujjar, Noor Din, Ghulam Nabi Choppan, Mohammad Jaffer Sheikh and Mohammad Ramzan.

They had flagged issues related to environmental degradation, damage to property, health hazards caused due to the ongoing construction of these projects and inadequate compensation for those affected, reported The Wire citing unidentified sources.

An official spokesperson for the district administration said that the detained persons were “not desisting from their illegal acts” despite prior warnings. Kishtwar District Magistrate Rajesh Kumar Shavan had taken a strong stance against “anti-national activities”, the spokesperson added.

“There were apprehensions of disturbing public order and putting threat to the security of the state by them,” the Kashmir Times quoted the unidentified spokesperson as saying. “As soon as the warrants were received, the police took them into custody and executed the warrants.”

The Public Safety Act is a preventive detention law that allows persons to be taken into custody to prevent them from acting against “the security of the state or the maintenance of the public order” in the Union territory.

Twenty-two other persons were also placed under surveillance for allegedly attempting to obstruct projects of national importance in the region, according to the Kashmir Times.

The district magistrate directed agencies to monitor persons who “try to disturb the public order by false propaganda and keeping an anti-national attitude of slowing pace of mega projects,” the spokesperson added.

Responding to the detention of the union leaders, Peoples Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti said that many across Jammu and Kashmir had been booked under draconian laws like the Public Safety Act and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act on “trivial charges” in the past five years.

In a post on social media, the former chief minister said: “This latest case of slapping PSA [Public Safety Act] on 5 people for raising their voice against the exploitation of our water resources by NHPC [National Hydroelectric Power Corporation] to fill in their own coffers is shocking because people have high expectations from the newly elected government.”

She added: “Hope they look into it immediately and see that these draconian laws are not used arbitrarily against our own citizens for raising genuine concerns.”

The Chenab Valley comprises the Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban districts.

Experts have warned about several potential dangers, including environmental damage and natural disasters, associated with about six hydropower projects that are in various stages of development on the Chenab river.

Activist detained under PSA in Doda

Another 25-year-old environmental activist, identified as Rehmatullah Ahmed, was also detained and booked under the Public Safety Act for allegedly challenging the district administration in Doda over civic issues, the Kashmir Times reported on Monday.

On November 9, Ahmed was booked under the Act for allegedly being an “overground worker and sympathiser of militants” who posed a “threat to the security of the state”, The Wire reported, quoting from the documents concerning his arrest.

The documents accused Rehamatullah of being “in continuous touch with ISI [Inter-Services Intelligence]/PAK [Pakistan] based settled militants”.