Overview

• Police identified the detainees as Nayeem Ahmad Khan, Faizan Akhter Bhat, Mehraj Ud Din Bhat, Umar Hamid Sheikh and Suhaib Shafi Baba, all residents of Srinagar.
• Detentions on June 2 followed formal orders invoking the PSA amid claims the individuals had multiple criminal cases and were involved in activities prejudicial to national security.
• The accused have been lodged in district jails at Kathua, Udhampur and Kot Balwal in Jammu, removing them from the Kashmir Valley.
• Under the PSA, detainees can be held without trial for three months to two years, a measure condemned by rights groups and local parties as punitive collective punishment.
• These arrests are part of a broader post-Pahalgam attack crackdown that has seen hundreds detained, including former militants and alleged over-ground workers of proscribed outfits.