Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Monday released five political leaders who have been under detention since the abrogation of Article 370 provisions and bifurcation of the state by the Centre on August 5.
The five leaders, belonging to the National Conference and the PDP, had been under preventive detention for the past four months.
The leaders included Ishfaq Jabbar and Ghulam Nabi Bhat (NC) and Bashir Mir Zahoor Mir and Yasir Reshi (PDP), they said.
Reshi is considered as a rebel PDP leader who had openly revolted against then chief minister and PDP patron Mehbooba Mufti.
On November 25, two political leaders — Dilawar Mir of the PDP and Ghulam Hassan Mir of the Democratic Party Nationalist — were released by the new Union Territory administration after 110 days of detention. They are former MLAs, both residents of Baramulla district.
On the same day, Ashraf Mir and Hakeen Yaseen, who were MLAs in the last state assembly of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, were shifted to their residences but remain under detention.
Both Mir and Yaseen were among the 34 political leaders who were lodged at the MLA hostel after being shifted from Centaur hotel in Srinagar. Earlier, the new UT administration had allowed some of the detained political leaders to visit their homes for few hours.
Both Mir and Yaseen were among the 34 political leaders who were lodged at the MLA hostel after being shifted from Centaur hotel in Srinagar. Thirty-four political detainees were shifted to MLA hostel from the hotel, located on the banks of Dal Lake, on November 18 as Srinagar reeled under harsh winter and the hotel lacked proper heating arrangement, the officials said.
Three former chief ministers — Farooq Abdulalh, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti are also under detention. While senior Abdullah was slapped with the stringent Public Safety Act on September 17 and remains confined to his residence, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti have been detained at different locations in the city.
Mehbooba Mufti was recently shifted to a government accommodation in the city from a tourist hut located at the foothills of Zaberwan range.