Farooq walks free as PSA is revoked
SRINAGAR: Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah was released on Friday after seven months of detention as the central government revoked the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) it had invoked against the veteran National Conference (NC) leader
Abdullah, 82, was first placed in preventive detention along with several other Kashmiri leaders, including his son Omar Abdullah and Peoples Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti, both former chief ministers, on August 5 -- the day the Centre revoked the special status conferred on Jammu and
Kashmir under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution and decided to bifurcate the state into two Union territories.
Abdullah, a member of the Lok Sabha, who underwent an eye surgery this week, was put in detention under the PSA, which provides for up to two years of detention without trial, on September 15. His detention was extended by three months in December.
Immediately after his release, Abdullah demanded the release of Omar Abdullah, Mufti and other detained political leaders. Omar Abdullah and Mufti were shifted to detention under the PSA from preventive custody in February.
“I am grateful to all the people of the state and to all the leaders of the country who spoke for our freedom. I am also grateful to every individual who prayed for us. But this freedom is not complete when Omar Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti and other leaders are either in prison in the state or outside or under house arrest. I hope the government will take action soon to release everyone if they want the people of the state to enjoy freedom. I am grateful to you,” Abdullah said.
The December extension of the PSA against Abdullah was due to end at midnight on Friday and could have been extended for a maximum of six more months. However, it emerged that his PSA detention had been extended on March 11 for another three months, but was suddenly revoked on Friday afternoon.
J&K principal secretary (home) Shaleen Kabra announced the release of Abdullah on Friday. The order on his release was also posted by Rohit Kansal, spokesperson for the newly formed Union territory’s administration, on his Twitter account.
Abdullah was detained at his house on Gupkar Road, which had been declared a sub-jail. He spoke to reporters briefly from the terrace of his house in the presence of his wife Molly and daughter Safia. He didn’t answer any political questions.
He said he would speak on political matters only after the other detained leaders are released. “I will answer no question, nor speak of any political matter till everyone is released. It is only when they are released that I will be able to dwell on political matters. Today I am free. I am thankful to all the parliamentary members who spoke for our freedom. They spoke for my freedom, they fought for my freedom in Parliament. I will be able to go to Delhi and attend Parliament and speak for the people.’’
Abdullah’s release was welcomed by the NC, which said the move was a right step towards restoration of a genuine political process in J&K. “As the pre-eminent political party of Jammu and Kashmir, the National Conference has played a key role in strengthening the voice of the people through democracy and will continue to do so,” it said in a statement.
Other political leaders also welcomed his freedom from detention. Former Union minister and senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said he hoped that “...he will soon resume his rightful place on the front bench of the Lok Sabha, where he can address with his usual compelling vigour the issues facing his state and the state of the nation. His detention was a disgrace”.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury said Abdullah’s release had been long overdue. “The imposition of PSA on and detention of Dr Farooq Abdullah was illegal, undemocratic and unconstitutional. We have all been concerned about his health and well being.”
On Monday, eight opposition leaders, in a joint statement, demanded the release of all the political detainees in J&K, which became a Union territory along with Ladakh,a part of the erstwhile state, on October 31 in line with the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019. They said the indefinite detention was a “blatant violation” of fundamental rights.
“Under these circumstances, political parties committed to safeguarding the fundamental rights of the citizens and securing the sanctity of the Constitution, cannot sit quiet,” the statement released by Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar said.
“It is our bounden duty to demand the immediate release of the three former chief ministers of J&K and all the other political detainees,” read the statement, which was posted by Pawar on his Twitter handle.
West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress president Mamata Banerjee, former prime minister and Janata Dal (Secular) leader HD Deve Gowda, Yechury, Communist Party of India general secretary D Raja and Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Rajya Sabha member Manoj Kumar Jha were the other signatories to the letter.
“Nothing exemplifies this more starkly than the continuing detention, on flimsiest of grounds, of three former chief ministers of Jammu & Kashmir — Dr Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti — for over seven months,” the statement said.
The NC recently said the continuous detention of Abdullah, a three-time CM and a Lok Sabha member, was a clear signal of the Centre’s contempt for Kashmiri representation.
“The central government has created a dangerous vacuum reversing all the gains of the past two decades by denigrating mainstream politics in Kashmir,” senior NC leader and member of Parliament from north Kashmir Mohammad Akbar Lone said last week.
Lone said it was “disrespectful” to have a sitting MP, whom former Prime Minister late AB Vajpayee had referred to as “the third party to Kashmir”, in confinement.
Former PDP minister Altaf Bukhari, who launched a new political party last Sunday, had also demanded the release of Abdullah and other leaders who are under detention.