Farooq Abdullah to finally be free after eight months, Public Safety Act revoked in Jammu & Kashmir

• The Public Safety Act has been revoked in J&K which has released Farooq Abdullah.
• The former CM of the state has been kept under house arrest since August last year.
• In September, he was placed under detention under the Public Safety Act.

The government of Jammu and Kashmir has revoked the detention of former CM Farooq Abdullah with immediate effect. He has been placed under detention as a part of the Public Safety Act which also has been revoked.

Abdullah had been kept on house arrest at his Srinagar residence since the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019. Later in September, he was placed under detention under the Public Safety Act.

“In exercise of powers conferred under Section 19(1) of the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act (PSA), 1978, the government hereby revokes the detention order bearing No. DMS/PSA/120/2019 issued by District Magistrate, Srinagar,” the order said.

There is no word yet on the release other former CMs Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti who too have been placed under house arrest. As many as 200 leaders in the state were either arrested or detained right after the abrogation.

Farooq Abdullah, even during his detention, was in touch with the Lok Sabha, and had applied for leave thrice from the lower house of the Parliament.

However, it is still not clear whether Abdullah can return to the Lok Sabha or whether he can attend public gatherings.

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor welcomed the move and called the detention ‘disgusting’.


The state lost its special status and Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh were converted into two union territories by the Narendra Modi ruled government last year. Ever since, the state citizens have been cut off from basics like broadband connections.

It was only in January after a five month hiatus that telecom providers were able to provide Internet to their subscribers in the valley. Most of these were also 2G connections leaving them with less speed and poor connectivity. In fact, this month the students of the valley started attending school after a long extended curfew and winter shutdown.

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