Members of Legislative assembly during the first day of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly in Srinagar, on October 23, 2025
| Photo Credit: Imran Nissar
The obituary reference to former Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik and the detention of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislator Mehraj Malik dominated the first day of the J&K Assembly session on Thursday (October 23, 2025).J&K Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather took umbrage at the ruling National Conference (NC) legislator Dr. Bashir Ahmad Veeri’s remarks against the deceased Malik, who served as J&K Governor from 2018 to 2019. “All members should refrain from making political comments while paying tributes to the departed leaders,” Mr. Rather said. The Speaker’s reprimand came in response to Mr. Veeri’s remarks on Malik, who passed away on August 5, 2025. “He (Malik) was controversial, and everyone remembers the fax machine incident,” in reference to the 2018 incident where the regional parties could not form a government in J&K due to “a faulty fax machine”.The remarks sparked objection from the BJP legislators. Speaking on the occasion, J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said, “He (Malik) not only served as Governor of J&K but also of Bihar and as a minister at the Centre. In the book of history, everyone has a paragraph written about them; some shorter, some longer. Malik Sahab’s too will be there. We may have had differences of opinion, but we all accept that whatever he did, he did with the intention of doing good.”Mr. Abdullah also proposed a change in the scheme of obituary references in the Assembly. “The Speaker should read the references and ask members to observe a moment of silence together,” he added.Meanwhile, another MLA legislator Ajaz Ahmed Jan referred to the deaths of Palestine during the obituary references. “The House should consider taking a position on the situation in Palestine and express concern over the killings of non-combatants,” MLA Jan said.Several legislators from NC and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) also stood in favour of incarcerated legislator Malik, who was detained under Public Safety Act (PSA) in September this year. NC MLAs, Tanvir Sadiq and Hilal Akbar Lone, urged the Speaker to allow a discussion on Malik’s detention, but the demand was turned down.“An elected representative must be present in the Assembly to voice the concerns of his people,” MLA Sadiq said.NC legislators also displayed placards, reading: “Free MLA Mehraj Malik.” PDP’s Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra and Congress’ Nizamuddin Bhat also joined the protest in favour of MLA Malik.“Mr. Malik should be released immediately. We condemn the PSA slapped against him,” Mr. Parra said.Meanwhile, CM Abdullah said the law used to detain MLA Malik “was absolutely a misuse and an excessive use of force against an elected representative.” “Law and order and policing are not part of the elected government’s responsibility,” he added. Published - October 23, 2025 02:50 pm IST
