Published 11:02 IST, March 24th 2020
Massive: Government revokes detention of Omar Abdullah; statement here
After eight months, the detention of National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah was revoked by the Jammu and Kashmir authorities.
Almost eight months later, the detention of National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah was revoked by the Jammu and Kashmir authorities citing 'preventive measures' in the valley. The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister was detained last year following the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5. A day prior to the completion of his detention, Omar Abdullah was slapped with the draconian Public Safety Act (PSA) on February 6, along with PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti.
As per rules, the preventive detention can be extended beyond six months only if an advisory board, constituted two weeks before the completion of the 180-day period, recommends for that. Last week the Supreme Court asked the J&K authorities to inform the top court on Abdullah's release. However, no such board was constituted and the Jammu and Kashmir administration was left with two choices -- either to release them or slap the PSA. Authorities cited proceedings of internal party meetings and social media influence of NC leader and former chief minister Omar Abdullah and "pro-separatist" stand of Mehbooba Mufti for booking them under the stringent PSA.
Incidentally, Omar Abdullah's last tweet on August 5, 2019, on the day when J&K was stripped off its special rights by revoking Article 370, called for peace. "Please don’t take the law into your own hands, please stay calm," the former J&K chief minister said.
Omar Abdullah meets father Farooq
First visuals of Omar Abdullah, his father Farooq Abdullah and family surfaced on Saturday afternoon, as the two former chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir met each other after almost eight months, since the abrogation of Article 370. In visuals, the Abdullah family was seen outside Omar Abdullah's sub-jail, wherein he had been detained since the passage of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019.
In visuals, the 82-year-old Srinagar MP was seen alongside his wife, daughter Safia Abdullah Khan and Omar Abdullah. Donning his shoddy, grey beard, Omar Abdullah appeared sickly in the fourth ever picture released of him since his detention. Omar Abdullah, who was the youngest minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led Cabinet in 2000, was undergoing detention at a government guest house at Hari Nivas Palace in Srinagar.
Updated 13:40 IST, March 24th 2020