Naeem Akhtar of PDP, sixth leader arrested under PSA in Jammu and Kashmir

The Jammu and Kashmir administration has slapped the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) on senior PDP leader Naeem Akhtar, officials said on Saturday.

Akhtar became the sixth mainstream leader in Kashmir to be booked under the controversial PSA, which was enacted in 1978 to deal with rampant timber smuggling.

While former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah was booked under the PSA in September last year, two other former chief ministers -- Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti -- were booked under the stringent law on Thursday.

National Conference (NC) general secretary Ali Mohammad Sagar and PDP leader Sarah Madni have also been detained under the PSA.

Several mainstream politicians were taken into preventive custody ahead of the Centre's announcement on abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution on August 5 last year.

Over 20 leaders have either been released or shifted to their residences and put under house arrest.