BH CORRESPONDENT, New Delhi: After being in detention for nearly eight months, former J&K chief minister Omar Adullah was released on Tuesday. He was among the three former CMs of J&K who were put under house arrest on August 5 after the Centre abrogated Article 370 which accorded special status to the erstwhile state. Omar has spent 232 days in custody.
Within hours of being released from detention, Omar was back on Twitter where he posted a photograph with his parents, thanked political leaders and family for their support. Apart from these tweets, he struck the humourous cord with his tweet on surviving quarantine and lockdown.
“232 days after my detention today I finally left Hari Niwas. It’s a very different world today to the one that existed on 5th August 2019,” he first tweeted.
He went on to thank his National Conference colleagues, Kapil Sibbal and others.
I owe a huge debt of gratitude to @KapilSibal, Gopal Sankaranarayanan, @reyazshariq and their legal teams for taking the fight against my unjust PSA detention to the SC. Thank you to my baby sister Sara for filing the petition to have me freed.
— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) March 24, 2020
Speaking on the recent coronavirus pandemic, which has claimed 9 lives in the country so far, Abdullah said, “We face the fight of our lives over the next few weeks & months as we come to terms & work to defeat #COVIDー19. I will do everything in my individual capacity to help the authorities overcome this challenge & I appeal to all of you to do the same.”
He further said that to help about how to stay in ‘quarantine’, he is going to publish a blog.
On a lighter note if anyone wants tips on surviving quarantine or a lock down I have months of experience at my disposal, perhaps a blog is in order.
— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) March 24, 2020
He also urged BJP-led government at the Centre to release other detained leaders, including PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, and restore Internet facilities in the newly-formed Union Territory.
On March 13, Omar’s father, Farooq Abdullah was released from the detention. The decision comes after eight Opposition leaders had demanded the release of all political detainees in the Union territory. “I am free, I am free,” he said while addressing the media outside his home shortly after his release. Abdullah spent seven months in detention under the Public Safety Act or PSA.
