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.

India rejects Donald Trump’s claim of PM Modi seeking help on Kashmir

The US president made the claim while meeting Pakistani PM Imran Khan at the White House

US President Donald Trump on Monday offered to mediate between India and Pakistan on the Kashmir issue, calming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently sought his help in resolving the dispute. India has denied Trump’s claim.

The US president made this remark while meeting Pakistani PM Imran Khan at the White House. “I was with Prime Minister Narendra Modi two weeks ago. We talked about this subject (Kashmir issue). He said: ‘Would you like to be a mediator or arbitrator?’ I said: ‘Where?’ He said ‘Kashmir’,” Trump said in his opening remarks at the Oval Office during his meeting with Khan. “It’s a terrible situation, been going on for many years.”

Khan welcomed Trump’s remarks and said if the US agrees, prayers of more than a billion people will be with him. India, so far, has maintained that the Kashmir issue is a bilateral one and no third party has any role.

Rejecting Trump’s claim, Raveesh Kumar, spokesperson, ministry of external affairs, tweeted: “We have seen @POTUS’s remarks to the press that he is ready to mediate, if requested by India & Pakistan, on Kashmir issue. No such request has been made by PM @narendramodi to US President.”

Also, the official statement released by the White House on Trump’s meeting with Khan does not mention Kashmir. “It has been India’s consistent position that all outstanding issues with Pakistan are discussed only bilaterally. Any engagement with Pakistan would require an end to cross border terrorism. The Shimla Agreement & the Lahore Declaration provide the basis to resolve all issues between India & Pakistan bilaterally,” Kumar said….

Strike over Article 35A cripples life for 2nd day

Life in Kashmir remained severely affected today for the second consecutive day due to a complete shutdown called by separatists against the legal challenge in the Supreme Court on the validity of Article 35A.

The two-day strike called by the Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) — comprising Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Mohammad Yasin Malik — comes as the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a PIL challenging the validity of Article 35A later in the day.

Article 35A, incorporated in the Constitution by a 1954 Presidential Order, confers special status to the permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir, and bars people from outside the state from acquiring any immovable property in the state.

Educational institutions, shops and business establishments remained closed across the Valley, while all kinds of transport remained off the roads due to the strike.

The state government has filed an application before the registrar of the Supreme Court, informing that it was going to seek adjournment of the hearing in view of the “ongoing preparations” for the upcoming panchayat and urban local body and municipal elections in the state.

Officials said the security forces had been deployed at vulnerable places in the city and elsewhere in Kashmir for maintaining law and order. The situation across the Valley is peaceful with no untoward incident reported from anywhere so far today, the officials said.

Article Source : BS