Former J&K CM Omar Abdullah released after 8 months of detention under PSA

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the petitioner, said the court should fix a short date for hearing the matter.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Centre and Jammu and Kashmir administration to inform by next week if it is releasing former chief minister Omar Abdullah, who has been detained since the abrogation of Article 370 in August last year. A bench of Justices Arun Mishra and M R Shah told counsel appearing for the Centre that Abdullah’s sister Sara Abdullah Pilot’s plea against his detention will be heard on merit if he is not released soon.

“If you are releasing him, then release him soon or we will hear the matter on merits,” the bench said. The observations came after counsel for the Centre and the Jammu & Kashmir administration informed the court that Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who was appearing in the matter, is arguing in another court. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the petitioner, said the court should fix a short date for hearing the matter.

To this the bench said only six benches are functioning due to the ongoing arrangement in the apex court and it does not know when the next turn will come.”Probably next week we are sitting and the matter will be taken up at that time,” the bench said.

After initial opposition to Article 370, JD(U) strikes reconciliatory note

National general secretary of the Janata Dal (United), Ram Chandra Prasad Singh, said the party does not wish to engage in further ideological sparring

After opposing the Centre’s resolution to revoke provisions of Article 370 and a bill to bifurcate Jammu and Kashmir, NDA ally JD(U) on Wednesday struck a reconciliatory note and said the law that had come into force should be abided by all.

National general secretary of the Janata Dal (United), Ram Chandra Prasad Singh, said the party does not wish to engage in further ideological sparring. “The law that has come into force with the passing of the bill in Parliament is the law of the land. It should be abided by all. Our differences with the BJP on this issue have always been known and we registered our protest by not voting for it,” Singh, also the JD(U) leader in the Rajya Sabha, told reporters here.

JD(U) lawmakers in both Houses of Parliament had opposed the resolution for scrapping the provisions of Article 370 and reorganising Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories. They spoke against the bill followed by a walkout, stopping short of voting against the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill, 2019.

“We could not have supported the bill. We were not consulted by the Centre before it brought the bill. We have an ideological position on the issue based on the stance taken by our founding president George Fernandes and, previously, socialist stalwarts like Lohia and JP (Jayprakash Narayan),” Singh said…