India releases veteran Kashmir leader Abdullah
March 13, 2020
Top Kashmiri leader Farooq Abdullah was released on Friday after more than seven months in custody under a stringent security law.
India stripped Kashmir of its semi-autonomous status and placed Abdullah under house arrest at the beginning of August last year. In September he was arrested under the controversial Public Safety Act (PSA). He the first mainstream politician to be detained under the legislation which allows someone to be in custody without trial for up to three months with multiple extensions.
Read more: Religious polarization: Is India following Pakistan's path?
More releases required
Upon his release and with his relatives by his side, the 82-year-old expressed relief that he was free but had words of caution that the fight for the embattled region was far from over. In Srinagar, Kashmir's main city, the prominent lawmaker told reporters: "This freedom will be complete when all the other Kashmiri leaders are released ... I hope I will able to go to Delhi and attend parliament and speak for you, the people of Kashmir," he said.
Senior official Rohit Kansal announced the news of Abdullah's release on Twitter, sharing a copy of the revocation order issued by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir Home Department.
Abduallah served three times as the chief minister of India-administered Kashmir and is also a member of the Indian parliament.
Along with his son Omar, Abdullah and several other top Kashmiri politicians, were among thousands taken into custody following last year's clampdown. Abdulah's son, a former chief minister, remains under detention.
Himalayan Kashmir has been the subject of a tussle between India and Pakistan that has raged since partition after British colonial rule in 1947. The region has witnessed a separatist insurgency since the 1980s, in which tens of thousands have perished.
jsi/rg (dpa, AFP, Reuters)
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