Hindustan Times ST (Jaipur)

Leaders, Mehbooba’s kin welcome Omar’s release

- Agencies letters@hindustant­imes.com Former J&K CM Omar Abdullah (left) with his father Farooq Abdullah and mother, after he was freed from detention.

NEW DELHI: Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Jammu and Kashmir unit of CPI(M), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti’s daughter Iltija Mufti on Tuesday welcomed the release of former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah

Welcoming the move, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra called for the restoratio­n of democratic rights of people in the region. “So happy to learn that Omar Abdullah’s unconstitu­tional and undemocrat­ic detention has been revoked at last. It is about time the union government restores democratic and constituti­onal rights to the people of Jammu and Kashmir as well,” read the tweet.

The central government issued orders revoking the detention of former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday.

Abdullah was among the many political leaders who had been put under house arrest after the Central government revoked Article 370 of the Constituti­on that accorded special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

Omar Abdullah’s father Farooq Abdullah was released from detention earlier this month, while PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti is still under detention.

The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister, who turned 50 on March 10, had spent 232 days in custody since the government announced abrogation of the special status of the erstwhile state on August 5 last year.

I l t i j a Mufti a l s o hai l e d National Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah’s release from nearly eight months of detention. However, Iltija Mufti, whose mother is still under detention under the Public Safety Act, said for all its talk of women power and women emancipati­on, the Centre seems to fear women the most – referring to her mother’s continued detention.

“...For all their talk of nari Shakti & women emancipati­on, seems like this regime fears women the most (sic),” Iltija wrote on Mehbooba Mufti’s Twitter handle.

She has been tweeting from her mother’s handle ever since the PDP president and former chief minister was detained in

August last year.

Senior Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI(M), leader in J&K M Y Tarigami welcomed the revocation of PSA against former chief minister Omar Abdullah and called for restoratio­n of 4G mobile internet services and mobilisati­on of all resources to contain the spread of coronaviru­s in the UT.

“This (release of Omar) is a welcome move … We reiterate our demand for release of all those who have been arrested since August 5, especially those kept in different jails outside Jammu and Kashmir,” Tarigami told news agency PTI.

He also urged the administra­tion to focus on mobilisati­on of all resources and do everything possible to contain the spread of coronaviru­s disease (Covid-19) in the region.

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