J&K govt. orders release of National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah from detention

NEW DELHI: Jammu and Kashmir government has ordered for the immediate release of National Conference (NC) party president Farooq Abdullah from detention.

The politician’s daughter Safia Abdullah Khan tweeted:

https://twitter.com/safiakhan71/status/1238373018050523136

Abdullah is one of the several politicians, including his son and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, who have been detained since August 5, 2019 after the abrogation of Article 370 which conferred a special status on the former State.

Post detention, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had said that the veteran J&K leader was perfectly fine and was staying back out of his own free will.

Shah said Abdullah was neither under house arrest, nor was he detained.

“I’m saying this for the fourth time, and I have the patience to say it for the 10th time, Farooq Abdullah has neither been detained, nor arrested,” the Home Minister had said in the Lok Sabha last year during discussions on the resolution revoking Article 370 and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill, 2019.

Abdullah was detained under the Public Safety Act (PSA). Not just that, the place where Abdullah senior will be housed has been declared a temporary jail, through an order.

The PSA allows detention of any individual for up to two years without a trial. Ironically, the law was first promulgated during Sheikh Abdullah’s tenure, father of Farooq Abdullah.

In November 2019, the NC has said that the party will relentlessly work for the release of Abdullah from detention so that he can participate in the ongoing Parliament session.

Abdullah had criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi on several occasions. Once he has said that Modi was pressing buttons for everything including the A-Satellite missile to portray himself as some kind of a Hanuman. Abdullah had dared the Modi government to “even touch” articles 370 and 35A of the Constitution which provide special status to the State. Reacting to the BJP’s commitment to abrogate articles 370 and 35A of the Constitution, Abdullah had said that the move will pave the way for ‘Azadi’ for Kashmir. He had compared Modi to Adolf Hitler and alleged that the BJP’s “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas” is in the same lines as the German dictator’s aspirations were.

Also Read: Farooq Abdullah Can Go Sans Trial For 2 Years, Detained Under PSA

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