Ghulam Nabi Azad welcomes Omar Abdullah’s release, says restore J&k statehood

Claiming that the detention was “totally undemocratic and uncalled-for”, Azad urged the Government of India to also immediately release PDP leader and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, and hundreds of other political detainees who are either in Jammu & Kashmir or in jails in different parts of the country, especially in view of the coronavirus crisis.

Azad said it was high time that the government “realises its mistake and restores the statehood of Jammu & Kashmir”. He further said the government must give back the exclusive rights on lands and services and the constitutional and democratic rights of the people of Jammu & Kashmir as they were before August 2019.

Others who have hailed the release of Abdullah include JKPCC chief G A Mir, former JKPCC president Peerzada Mohammad, ex-deputy chief minister Tara Chand, former ministers Taj Mohi-ud-Din, Mula Ram, Raman Bhalla, G M Saroori, Mohammed Sharief Niaz, Haji Abdul Rashid Dar and Kanta Bhan, among others.