Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU Mar 13: Various political parties have welcomed the release of former Chief Minister and National Conference (NC) president, Dr Farooq Abdullah.
Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (NC) today welcomed the release of the five-time Chief Minister and party president, Dr Farooq Abdullah, urging the Government to also release all other political leaders against whom there are no criminal charges.
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A joint statement issued by senior party leaders led by provincial president, Devender Singh Rana from Sher-e-Kashmir Bhavan here this afternoon, stated that NC has always been a strong votary of democracy and secularism, adding that the release of Dr. Farooq Abdullah will pave the way for reinitiating genuine political activity so that democracy gets strengthened in Jammu & Kashmir.
Later, interacting with media, Rana said Dr Farooq Abdullah is a symbol of mainstream politics in Jammu and Kashmir. He said to have senior political leader like Dr. Farooq, booked and detained under Public Safety Act was unfortunate.
The NC leaders urged the Government to release party vice president Omar Abdullah, PDP president, Mehbooba Mufti and other political detenues in the larger interest of democracy.
The other signatories to the joint statement included Ajay Kr. Sadhotra, Surjeet Singh Slathia, Rattan Lal Gupta, Mushtaq Ahmed Bukhari, Th Rachpal Singh, Sheikh Bashir Ahmed, Javed Ahmed Rana , Sajjad Ahmed Kichloo, Babu Rampaul, Abdul Gani Malik, Dr. Chaman Lal Bhagat, Qazi Jalal Ud Din, Brij Mohan Sharma, Ajaz Jan, Tarlochan Singh Wazir, Jagjeevan Lal, Jugal Mahajan, Gurdeep Singh Sasan , Mohinder Singh, Rahim Daad, Haji Mohd Hussain, Master Noor Hussain, Sheikh Abdul Rehman, Mohd Iqbal Bhat, Bimla Luthra, Deepender Kour, Swarn Lata, Satwant Kour Dogra, Dharamveer Singh Jamwal, Pradeep Bali, Vijay Lakshmi Dutta, Anil Dhar, Bhushan Lal Bhat, Wali Dad, Dr. Gagan Bhagat, Rita Gupta Sajjad Shaheen, Vijay Lochan, Abdul Gani Teli, Ch. Haroon, Chander Mohan Sharma, Som Nath Khajuria, Vijay Khajuria and Sunil Verma.
Congress has hailed the revocation of detention of former Chief Minister and Member Parliament, Dr. Farooq Abdullah and said that the pressure of united opposition especially Congress and others has finally worked.
JKPCC Chief spokesperson, Ravinder Sharma said that the Congress party always maintained that the detention of all top mainstream leaders including three former Chief Ministers is totally illegal, unconstitutional and undemocratic and should be revoked. The entire opposition and all right thinking institutions and individuals have repeatedly raised their voice against the authoritarian actions of the Government and called for end to this.
Hope the good sense shall prevail and Government would soon release all such leaders and remove all sorts of restrictions on the leaders of the Congress party and all other mainstream leaders to pave way for a meaningful and credible political process in Jammu and Kashmir in order to highlight the sufferings and hardships of different sections of the society.
CPI (M) leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami while welcoming the release said the decision of Jammu and Kashmir administration to revoke the Public Safety Act (PSA) of NC president, Dr Farooq Abdullah, is a step to correct one wrong among many wrongs.
Though late, the decision to revoke the PSA of Dr Farooq Abdullah is welcome the Government must also release political leaders, activists and civil society members, who were detained arbitrarily, after August 5, 2019. The politicians were placed under detention because of political vendetta by the BJP Government at the Centre, he added.
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