Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday reiterated that everything is normal in Jammu and Kashmir and a decision on releasing detained political leaders will be taken by the local administration of Union Territory. “We don’t want to keep them (J&K leaders) even a day extra in jail, when administration thinks its right time,political leaders will be released”, said Shah when Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury asked the Centre ‘when the politicos would be released’.
When queried about Farooq Abdullah’s detention under the stringent National Security Act, the Home Minister said that Sheikh Abdullah, father of Farooq Abdullah was kept in jail for 11 years by Congress but the Modi government has no such plans.
“We dont want to follow Congress, as soon as administration decides, they will be released”, Shah stated in the Lok Sabha.
He also presented the status report on Kashmir in Lok Sabha saying that 99.5% students sat for exams there, 7 lakh people availed OPD services in Srinagar and section 144 was removed from everywhere but for ‘Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury only parameter for normalcy is political activity’.
“What about local body polls which were held? I can’t make Congress’s condition normal, because they had predicted bloodshed after abrogation of article 370. Nothing of that sort happened, not one bullet was fired,” claimed the Union Minister.
Earlier this year in August, the Narendra Modi-led government had revoked Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated the state into union territories- Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, which officially came into existence from October 31.
While revoking the special status to the erstwhile state, the Centre had claimed that people wanted change including Article 35A and Article 370 which hindered development and contributed in promoting a separatist mindset.
Following the government’s move, severe restrictions were imposed in the Valley as a precautionary measure. Additional troops were deployed and section 144 was imposed on parts of the territory.
Apart from these, regional political leaders, including three former J&K chief ministers — Mehbooba Mufti (PDP), Farooq Abdullah (NC) and Omar Abdullah (NC) were also detained as a precautionary measure.