Former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti is likely to be released on Wednesday, 25 March, after eight months of detention. Quoting sources, IANS reported that the Public Safety Act (PSA) charges are likely to be dropped by Kashmir’s Home Department.
National Conference leader Omar Abdullah who was released on 24 March said he hoped the government would release politicians detained in Jammu and Kashmir, including PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, as it was cruel to continue their detention with the country entering a three-week lockdown period.
Mufti, Naeem Akhtar, Ali Mohammad Sagar, Peer Mansoor and Shah Faesal are some of the popular Kashmiri leaders who continue to be detained under the Public Safety Act, which was slapped on them during their preventive detention in the wake of the revocation of the erstwhile state's special status under Article 370 in August last year.
Abdullah who was himself detained on 5 August 2019 along with other Kashmiri opposition leaders, was released on 24 March, after the charges under the Public Safety Act (PSA), slapped on him in February, were revoked.
Abdullah posted a series of tweets after his release. In one tweet he said that he walked into a very “different world” from when he was detained. Soon after his release, a tweet was posted from Mehbooba Mufti’s twitter account as well, where she said that this “regime fears women the most”.
Other politicians and journalists have also appealed for the release of the Mufti and the other leaders who continue to be detained.
(With inputs from PTI)
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