All but six political leaders in Jammu and Kashmir to be released: Sources
New Delhi, Jan 03: The government is set to release all political leaders in Jammu and Kashmir. The administration has however decided not to release six leaders who had been detained in the wake of Article 370 being abrogated.
Those set to walk free are Rafi Mir, Ashraf Mir, Majid Padru of the PDP and Hakim Mohammad of the PDF, sources tell OneIndia.
The six leaders whose detentions would continue would include, Mehbooba Mufti, Omar Abdullah, Farooq Abdullah, Naeem Akthar, Ali Mohammad Sagar and Saeed Parra.
Amit Shah explains why Farooq Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti had to be detained
Mehbooba and Omar Abdullah are lodged at the government house and Hari Niwas respectively. Farooq Abdullah, on the other hand, is detained at his residence on Gupkar Road, which has been declared as a sub-jail.
Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti had to be detained for "some time" after they made provocative statements, home minister, Amit Shah said on Thursday night while addressing an event organised by media outlet ABP News.
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"Please see the statements made by them, like the entire country will be on fire if Article 370 was touched...In the backdrop of these statements, a professional decision was taken to keep them under detention for some time," Shah said at the news summit.
Many political leaders in Jammu and Kashmir, including the three former chief ministers, were detained on August 5, the day the Centre announced abrogation of Article 370 provisions and bifurcation of the state into the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
While Farooq Abdullah has been booked under the stringent Public Safety Act and confined to his Gupkar Road residence in Srinagar, which has been declared a sub-jail, his son Omar Abdullah has been detained at Hari Niwas. PDP chief Mufti was lodged at Chesmashahi hut initially but later shifted to government accommodation.
To a question pointing out that Abdullahs' National Conference and Mufti's PDP were alliance partners of the BJP at some point of time and the leaders were now being labelled "anti-national", the home minister made it clear that neither he nor anyone from the government had called them so.
"As far as the decision to release them is concerned, this decision will be taken by the local administration and not me," he said, adding that the administration will release them whenever it deems suitable.
Shah said the situation in the Kashmir Valley was under control and day-to-day life was going on smoothly.
"Not a single inch in Kashmir is under curfew today," he added.