Srinagar: The administration of Lt. Governor may release six political leaders–except former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti–who are currently detained under the Public Safety Act (PSA), reported Kashmir News Observer.
Highly placed sources disclosed to the news agency that discussions are taking place at different levels on releasing six political leaders held at Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) hostel and a government-facilitated accommodation at Posh Gupkar road in Srinagar.
“The government would soon take a call on whether to release NC general secretary Ali Muhammad Sagar, bureaucrat-turned-politician Shah Faesal, former minister Naeem Akther Peerzada Mansoor Hussain, Sartaj Madni and Hilal Akbar Lone,” they said, adding that they were detained after 5 August when the BJP-led central government abrogated Jammu and Kashmir’s special position and bifurcated the erstwhile state into two Union Territories.
After completing six months of detention under the Criminal Procedure Code(CrPC), all of them were detained under the Public Safety (PSA) in February this year. Earlier this month, the government extended their PSA detention by three months which is permissible under the controversial law enacted in 1977.
After the abrogation of Article 370, the government detained more than forty political leaders including three former chief ministers, Farooq Abdullah, his son, Omar Abdullah, and Mehbooba Mufti, and other prominent political leaders, including Sajad Gani Lone and Shah Faesal.
While the Abdullahs were released, Mufti continues to be in detention under PSA at her Fairview residence in Srinagar.
Sajad Lone also continues under house arrest from 5 February after he was released from MLA hostel. (KNO)