J-K govt to release 44 detenues

Official sources said that the detenues will be released tomorrow. The seven Dukhtaran activists in the list include Nahia Nasreen, Sofi Fahmeeda, Razia Afrooqa, Noor Jahan, Rifat Rizwan, Bazigaa Parvez and Mehmooda Wani. They were arrested last month after the Dukhtaran launched a drive against ‘‘government sponsored moral degeneration’’.

Dukhtaran chief Asiya Andrabi does not figure in the list. Nasreen, a post-graduate in Islamic Studies is Dukhtaran No.2 while the other prominent face, Parvez, is Asiya’s elder sister.

The sources added that there were no prominent figures among the 37 males in the list. ‘‘Most of them have been behind bars from some months while a few were in jail for some years,’’ an officer said.

In their meeting with the PM, the Hurriyat doves had taken up the issue of the detenues, specifically seeking the release of Sheikh Abdul Aziz, Ashiq Hussain Pakhtoo and Zamrooda Habib. However, their names are not in this list.

The Hurriyat, meanwhile, has welcomed the government order but said that these are peripheral issues. ‘‘If this is happening, it is good. But these are peripheral issues. Basically, we want headway in the resolution of the Kashmir issue,’’ said a senior leader, who was part of the five-member delegation that met the PM.