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Business News/ News / India/  Ex-J&K CM Omar Abdullah freed after over seven months of detention
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Ex-J&K CM Omar Abdullah freed after over seven months of detention

The move comes just two weeks after Omar’s father Farooq Abdullah, also a former CM, was released
  • On 18 March, SC gave the Central government a week to release Abdullah on a plea by his sister
  • “232 days after my detention today I finally left Hari Niwas. It’s a very different world today to the one that existed on 5th August 2019,” tweeted Omar Abdullah after his release. (PTI)Premium
    “232 days after my detention today I finally left Hari Niwas. It’s a very different world today to the one that existed on 5th August 2019,” tweeted Omar Abdullah after his release. (PTI)

    Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah stepped out from detention into what he called “a very different world" on Tuesday as he rallied his party to work for “better days" in his embattled erstwhile state.

    Omar Abdullah was released by the Central government after more than seven months in detention.

    The move came just two weeks after his father Farooq Abdullah, also a former chief minister, was freed and marks the easing of restrictions on opposition politicians in Kashmir, which has been in a lockdown since 5 August 2019.

    The release of the two National Conference leaders leaves only one of the triumvirate of former chief ministers still in detention—Mehbooba Mufti of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    Omar Abdullah tweeted, “232 days after my detention today I finally left Hari Niwas. It’s a very different world today to the one that existed on 5th August 2019….I owe a huge debt of gratitude to @KapilSibal, Gopal Sankaranarayanan, @reyazshariq and their legal teams for taking the fight against my unjust PSA detention to the SC (Supreme Court). Thank you to my baby sister Sara for filing the petition to have me freed," Abdullah said in a series of tweets soon after he was released from his detention at Hari Niwas.

    On 18 March, the Supreme Court gave the Central government a week to release Omar Abdullah on a plea by his sister Sara Abdullah Pilot.

    Omar Abdullah made no specific mention of his future plans, but hinted in a tweeted, “My thanks to all my @JKNC_colleagues for staying united & staying strong. We have a long & difficult road ahead of us but together we will ensure J&K sees better days."

    The father-son duo and Mufti were put in preventive detention, with Omar Abdullah additionally booked under the draconian Public Safety Act (PSA) in February, after the Central government scrapped the erstwhile state’s special status.

    Celebrating his release, the Congress party slammed the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), calling the arrest of the former CM unconstitutional.

    “So happy to learn that @omarabdullah’s unconstitutional and undemocratic detention has been revoked at last. It’s about time the union government restores democratic and constitutional rights to the people of Jammu and Kashmir as well," Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra tweeted.

    Mehbooba Mufti, who continues to remain in detention, took a swipe at the Central government.

    “Glad he will be released. For all their talk of nari shakti and women emancipation, seems like this regime fears women the most," Mufti tweeted.

    All three politicians have a new but untested political contender in the region in the form of the Apni Party, launched earlier this month by Altaf Bukhari, who was finance minister under Mehbooba Mufti. The Congress and National Conference have described Bukhari’s party as “an extension of the BJP."

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    Published: 24 Mar 2020, 01:09 PM IST
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