New Delhi, Oct. 14, (dpa/GNA) – The former chief minister of India-administered Kashmir, Mehbooba Mufti, has been released after more than a year in custody under a stringent security law, officials said Wednesday.
Mufti, 61, was placed in detention on August 5 last year, when New Delhi stripped Kashmir of its semi-autonomous status. She was charged under the Public Safety Act (PSA) and given house arrest.
The announcement of her release was made by senior official Rohit Kansal on Twitter late Tuesday. The decision came as her daughter, Iltija, had filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging her mother’s detention.
On Wednesday, Mufti issued messages on her official Twitter handle, thanking people and politicians for their support.
“None of us can forget the insult and humiliation we were made to face that day. And now we all have to remember what the federal government did on 5 August – illegally and undemocratically. What they took away from us, we have to take it back,” she said in an audio message on Twitter.
Hundreds of politicians and activists were detained or arrested as part of a clampdown by New Delhi to quell the backlash over its decision.
Most of the top politicians have been released as restrictions including roadblocks, telephone service cuts and an internet shutdown imposed in the Muslim-majority region since last August have been removed in the past months.
Indian opposition parties as well as rights groups had criticized the curbs and pressed for the release of the politicians and activists under custody.
Himalayan Kashmir, disputed by India and Pakistan, has seen a separatist insurgency since the 1980s in which tens of thousands of people have been killed.
GNA