Omar Abdullah released from detention, says ‘a very different world’

mangaloretoday.com/ yahoo

Jammu and Kashmir, March 24, 2020: Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah outside his residence in Srinagar on Tuesday. In his first statement after being released from detention, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah Tuesday appealed to the Centre to release detained leaders and restore Internet facilities in the Union Territory. Speaking to the media at around 1.30 pm outside his residence at Gupkar Road in Srinagar, Omar said he would talk about Article 370 and what followed in the state at length at another time.

The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Tuesday morning revoked the Public Safety Act (PSA) order against Omar, paving the way for his released for the first time in nearly eight months. Omar was placed in preventive detention on August 5, 2019 following the abrogation of Article 370. In February, the J&K administration invoked the stringent PSA against him for his ability to “convince his electorate to vote in huge numbers”.

Omar said: "It’s a very different world today to the one that existed on 5th August 2019." He attached the government order revoking his detention, as well as a picture of himself.

"Had lunch with my mum & dad for the first time in almost 8 months. I can’t remember a better meal even though I’ve been in a bit of a daze & don’t remember what I ate," he wrote in a second tweet.

Omar Abdullah said he had lunch with his parents on Tuesday for the first time in nearly eight months.

Omar’s release comes weeks after his father, former chief minister and Lok Sabha MP Farooq Abdullah was released from detention. The Srinagar MP had been under detention at his house on Gupkar Road in Srinagar since the August 5 decision.

Addressing the press after he was released, Farooq said, "Today I don’t have words. I am free today. Now, I will be able to go to Delhi and attend Parliament and speak for you all.

A day after his release, Farooq Abdullah visits son Omar Abdullah at Hari Niwas guest house in Srinagar with his wife and daughter. (ANI photo)

Other leaders, including former CM and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti, are still in detention.

Omar Abdullah walks out of the Hari Niwas residence in Kashmir where he was placed under detention