NEW DELHI – Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday assured that all detained political leaders in Jammu and Kashmir, including former chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, would be released soon, PDP’s Rajya Sabha member Nazir Ahmad Laway said.
Laway, who called on the prime minister at Parliament House, said he had a 20-minute meeting during which he apprised Modi about the latest situation in Jammu and Kashmir and requested him to release all detainees, including Omar, Mehbooba and former IAS officer Shah Faesal.
“I also requested (him) to release all those youths who are lodged in and out of the union territory,” he said.
Laway said that he got the “assurance that all political detainees will be set free very soon”.
He said that the development process, including political engagements, in the state will resume soon. “I also requested the prime minister for rolling out job opportunities for the youth,” he said.
Many political leaders, including the former chief ministers, were detained by the government after the abrogation of special status of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir on August 5. After being kept in custody for six months, the JK administration had slapped the two chief ministers with the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) on February 5 this year.
The government last week revoked the Public Safety Act against former chief minister and veteran politician Farooq Abdullah after keeping him in detention for 221 days.
The meeting comes days after a delegation of newly created Jammu and Kashmir ‘Apni Party’ led by its chief Altaf Bukhari had called on the Prime Minister and Home Minister Amit Shah.
During their meeting on Saturday, the Prime Minister had underlined that the government will work with all sections of the population to realize the hopes of statehood for Jammu and Kashmir at an early opportunity
According to Bukhari, the Home Minister during a meeting on Sunday, had assured that the remaining political prisoners in would be released “very soon”.
The government had informed in Parliament last week that a total of 451 people are under detention in Jammu and Kashmir, including 396 slapped with the Public Safety Act.
Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy had said the Jammu and Kashmir authorities had taken 7,357 persons in preventive custody since August, 2019 when the special status of the erstwhile state was abrogated and it was divided into two Union Territories.
“Out of these, 451 such persons are presently under preventive detention, which includes 396 persons under Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act (PSA),” the minister had said.
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