Detainees may soon be released: Bukhari

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The LG assured that in the coming days, all political leaders who are still detained, including former CM Mehbooba Mufti, will be released

ALTAF BUKHARI, Apni Party leader

nSRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir lieutenant governor (LG) Girish Chandra Murmu has assured of releasing all political detainees, including Peoples Democratic Party leader Mehbooba Mufti, detained in the aftermath of the nullification of Article 370 in the coming days, Apni Party leader Altaf Bukhari said on Sunday.

When HT reached out for a response, Jagdish Singh, director, public relations, Raj Bhawan, said the LG was in Jammu and only he will be in a position to comment on the issue.

A delegation of the fledgling Apni Party led by Bukhari, a former PDP leader, met Murmu on Tuesday. “I...discussed many things with him including the restoration of statehood and the polls. The lieutenant governor assured that in the coming days, all political leaders who are still detained, including former J&K chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, will be released by the government,’’ Bukhari told HT over phone from Delhi.

The government nullified Article 370, which accorded special status to Jammu and Kashmir, on August 5, 2019, and also split the erstwhile state into two Union territories – Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. The government has said it will work towards restoring J&K’S “special status” at an early opportunity.

As protests erupted in the wake of the August 5 announcement, several political leaders and activists including former chief ministers were detained as a preventive measure. While politicians such as ex-cms Farooq and Omar Abdullah have been released, over 25 leaders, including Mufti, are still in detention.

Last week, National Conference president and Srinagar MP Farooq Abdullah and his son, Omar Abdullah, filed a petition in the Jammu and Kashmir high court, challenging the detention of 16 senior NC leaders.

“We are even hopeful that leaders will be released before Eid,” Bukhari, who formed the Apni Party in March, said.

Bukhari said he wanted to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah to know status of a memorandum, which he, along with other party leaders, had submitted to them in March. “I am in Delhi today and will seek an appointment with the PM and the home minister.’’