Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah will be released after being held in detention for six months. He and his son Omar Abdullah was detained under the Public Safety Act or PSA, a strict law that allows detention without trial, on 5 August 2019 when the government ended special status to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 and imposed massive restrictions.

Eight opposition parties sent a joint resolution to the BJP-led government, demanding the immediate release of all political detainees in Kashmir, especially the three former Chief Ministers -- Farooq and Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti. Under the Narendra Modi government, 'democratic dissent is being muzzled by coercive administrative action, which has threatened the basic ideals of Justice, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity as enshrined in our Constitution,' the resolution read.

According to an order issued by the Union Territory's home secretary Shaleen Kabra, the PSA ordered by the district magistrate of Srinagar on September 15 and subsequently extended for three months on December 13, stands revoked.

Abdullah thanked parliamentarians who 'fought for my freedom' from detention and said he will be able to take a decision on future only after other leaders are released. 'I am free... Hope others political leaders would be released soon. Thank all parliamentarians who fought for my freedom. Will be able to take decision on future only after other leaders are released,' he said.

Political leaders welcomed the revocation of the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) imposed on National Conference patron. While Abdullah's party, the National Conference (NC), termed his release a 'step in the right direction towards restoring genuine political process in Jammu and Kashmir', former Union minister and senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said he welcomed Abdullah's 'belated release'.

'...I hope he will soon resume his rightful place on the front bench of the Lok Sabha, where he can address with his usual compelling vigour the issues facing his state and the state of the nation. His detention was a disgrace,' Tharoor said in a tweet.

Iltija Mufti, daughter of incarcerated PDP president and former J and K chief minister Mehbooba Mufti demanded the release of all those detained following revocation of the special status of the erstwhile state under Article 370 of the Constitution.