Srinagar, August 31 (KNO) : In a significant development, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has decided to review the detention of mainstream political leaders who were detained on September 5 in the wake of scrapping of Article 370, and a crucial meeting is scheduled to take place in Delhi where names of leaders to be set free will be taken, top officials in MHA disclosed to Kashmir News Observer (KNO) on Friday.
They said that the leaders from the political parties including National Conference, PDP, Congress, CPI(M), PDF, and Peoples Conference, who were detained on August and lodged in sub-jail Centaur, will complete a month in detention on September 5 and the review has been convened on September 4, where the decision will be taken whether all would be released in one go or one by one.
“The meeting will be chaired by union home secretary where National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval is also expected to participate,” an official in the Union Home Ministry told KNO, on the condition of anonymity. The official, who is privy to the agenda of the scheduled meet, revealed that in the first phase mainstream leaders will be released while as the chances of releasing the separatist leaders were very bleak.
Sources told Kashmir News Observer (KNO), that more than 50 leaders from mainstream parties including National Conference, PDP, Congress, CPI (M), Peoples Conference, JK Peoples Movement, Awami Itehad Party and others, are under detention including the big-wigs like Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti, and Sajad Lone.
According to the KNO, the officials disclosed that the process to set free the mainstream leaders will commence from September 5, a month after the revocation of Article 370 and the bifurcation of State into two Union Territories.
A rumour recently gripped Kashmir that Centre has sent a delegation to meet Omar Abdullah Mehbooba Mufti to strike a deal with them for securing their release. However, it was later learnt from reliable sources, that Omar and Mehbooba refused to meet anybody and refused to get released on any condition.
What remains to be seen is after their release whether National Conference and PDP would remain silent or frame a different strategy to oppose or to fight against Centre’s decision. Pertinently, J&K Governor Satya Pal Malik during his press conference on Wednesday made it clear that revocation of Article 370 was permanent but there would be no outside pressure that would dilute the J&K identity, culture and ethos.(KNO)