Amnesty attacks India over detentions in Kashmir

NEW DELHI, Mar 21 (AFP): Rights group Amnesty International attacked a draconian Indian law on Monday which it said had been used to detain up to 20,000 people without trial in violence-hit Kashmir. Amnesty urged India to scrap the Public Safety Act (PSA) that allows police to detain a person up to two years without charge or trial if he or she is deemed a threat to the state. "Kashmir authorities are using PSA detentions as a revolving door to keep people they can't or won't convict through proper legal channels locked up and out of the way," said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty's Asia-Pacific director. A new report from the group said up to 20,000 people had been held under the law since the start of an Islamist insurgency.