Mehbooba Mufti to stay in detention for 3 months; Lone freed

The Jammu and Kashmir administration extended the detention of former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti by three months even as it released People’s Conference chief Sajjad Gani Lone in Srinagar on Friday, a week ahead of the one-year anniversary of the revocation of the troubled region’s special status and its bifurcation.

Mufti, who has been held under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) since the early hours of August 5, 2019, is among 20-odd political leaders in the Valley who continue to remain under detention. Two other former chief ministers – Farooq Abdullah and his son Omar – were released on March 13 and March 24.

Mufti’s party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), ran a coalition government in the undivided state with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) until the alliance collapsed in June 2018 that prompted the imposition of Governor’s Rule.

Principal secretary to J&K home department, Shaleen Kabra, issued an order announcing the extension of Mufti’s detention.

‘’In exercise of powers conferred by section 8 (1) a read with clause a of sub section (1) of section 18 of JKPSA 1978, the government hereby directs that the period of detention of Mehbooba Mufti, D/O Mufti Mohammad Sayeed R/O Bijbhera A/P Nowgam Srinagar be extended for further period of three months and she may be lodged in subsidiary jail Fairview Gupkar Road Srinagar,’’ read the order issued on Friday. This is the second time that PSA has been extended in Mufti’s case.

Under the PSA, a person can be kept under detention for up to two years.

The former CM was arrested on August 5 from her official residence and lodged at Chesmashahi huts. She was moved to a government building close to the MLA hostel, where other detainees were held, in November. In April this year, Mufti was shifted to her official residence at Fairview on Gupkar Road.

The PDP condemned the extension of Mufti’s detention. ‘It’s high time the BJP realizes that we as Kashmiris refuse to be trivialized,” the party said.

Lone, who was a minister in the PDP-BJP government, was also arrested hours before the Centre stripped J&K of its special status on August 5, 2019 and held at the government house in Church Lane, Sonwar.

‘’Finally 5 days short of a year I have been officially informed that I am a free man. So much has changed. So have I,” Lone tweeted shortly after his release. “Jail was not a new experience. Earlier ones were harsh with usual doses of physical torture. But this was psychologically draining. Much to share hopefully soon,’’ he added.

The developments came a week after Apni Party chief Altaf Bukhari said he was told by lieutenant governor GC Murmu that the political detainees would be released soon.

Nearly all of Kashmir’s mainstream political leaders were detained hours before the central government nullified Article 370 of the Constitution, which accorded special status to the region, and bifurcated the state into two union territories – Jammu and Kashmir with a legislature and Ladakh without one.

Lone was initially kept at a makeshift jail at Centaur hotel on the banks of the Dal Lake along with several other mainstream leaders before they all were moved to MLA hostel in Srinagar. In February, Lone and PDP leader Waheed Parra were moved to their residences and put under house arrest.

Omar Abdullah welcomed Lone’s release. ‘’Good to hear that Sajjad Lone has been released from illegal house arrest. I hope others under similar illegal detention will also be released without any delay,’’ Omar Abdullah tweeted.