Srinagar: National Conference (NC) president and Member of Parliament Dr. Farooq Abdullah on Tuesday visited his political rival Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti’s family in Srinagar. Former J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti remains in an isolated detention centre in Srinagar since August 4.
The meeting comes two days after Farooq Abdullah asked all political parties of Jammu and Kashmir to jointly appeal to the Centre to bring back all detainees lodged outside the newly carved Union Territory.
Dr. Abdullah, who was released on March 13 after over seven months of detention, drove to ‘Fairview’, the Gupkar residence of former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti at 4.30 PM. Ms. Mufti’s mother Gulshan Ara and daughter Iltija Mufti received Dr. Abdullah who spent nearly two hours with the family during which he was served with tea and snacks, sources said.
“It was a nice gesture from such a senior leader of the state to have spent time with us,” Iltija Mufti later told PTI.
This was termed by the leaders of both sides as a courtesy call to the residence of Mehbooba Mufti, the arch political rival, who is presently under detention under the Public Safety Act (PSA).
Abdullah, a former Chief Minister himself, was released on Friday after his PSA was revoked while his son and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah continues to be under PSA detention since August 4 last year when the Centre abrogated provisions of Article 370 and bifurcated the erstwhile state into union territories.
After his release, Abdullah had visited the graveyard of his father and NC founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, and also visited his detained son on March 14 for the first time in the past seven months.
On Sunday, Abdullah in his first statement after his release, asked all political parties of Jammu and Kashmir to jointly appeal to the Centre to bring back all detainees lodged outside the union territory on “humanitarian” grounds.
The NC chief said while he advocated for a “free and frank exchange” of political views in order to take stock of the “momentous changes” that Jammu and Kashmir has seen since August 5, “we are still some way away from an environment where such political discourse will be possible. This is especially so considering the number of people detained in August last year who remain in jails outside J&K”.
He had said, “We allow politics to divide us, I appeal to all political leaders in the state to unite behind the call to the Union government to bring back all detainees from Jammu and Kashmir from prisons outside the Union territory pending their release.
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