In his first remarks after his release from detention after seven months, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday asked the government to restore mobile data connectivity in the state so that the people could be made aware of the precautions to be taken to avoid coronavirus disease. Abdullah, who turned 50 earlier this month, also asked the government to release the other political prisoners in the state irrespective of their political ideology.
Omar Abdullah’s release from detention came hours after the Jammu and Kashmir revoked orders to detain him under the Public Safety Act on Tuesday morning.
Abdullah, who spent more than seven months at a government guest house Hariniwas which was declared as sub jail, was released after a medical checkup. The National Conference leader headed straight to his residence at Gupkar which had been sealed by the police.
Omar Abdullah drove his vehicle from Hariniwas to his home in Srinagar’s posh locality, also briefly to journalists on his release. The former chief minister told reporters that he would speak on the scrapping of Article 370 at some point but for now, the immediate priority was to fight coronavirus disease.
He asked people to take the precautions to avoid contracting this disease. “We’re fighting a battle of life and death,” Omar Abdullah said. The former chief minister, who had been active on social media before his detention, tweeted a photograph of the release orders with his photograph, sitting in the driver’s seat of his vehicle.
“232 days after my detention today I finally left Hari Niwas. It’s a very different world today to the one that existed on 5th August 2019,” he said. A few minutes later, he tweeted again.
“Had lunch with my mum & dad for the first time in almost 8 months. I can’t remember a better meal even though I’ve been in a bit of a daze & don’t remember what I ate,” he tweeted.