This Article is From Dec 10, 2019

"No Interference From Us": Amit Shah On Row Over J&K Leaders' Detentions

Political leaders have been detained in Srinagar since August 5 when the government announced the end of special status to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370.

Amit Shah asserted that the situation in the Kashmir Valley is "completely normal".

New Delhi:

Political leaders detained in Jammu and Kashmir will be released by the local administration and there will be "no central interference", Home Minister Amit Shah said in parliament on Tuesday.

Former chief ministers Mehbooba Mufti, Omar Abdullah and his father Farooq Abdullah have been detained in Srinagar since August 5, when the government announced the end of special status to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 and split the state into two union territories.

The decision to release them would be that of the local administration, Amit Shah said to questions raised by the Congress in the Lok Sabha. "There is no need or desire to keep anyone (leaders) in jail even for a day more than that is required. As and when the local administration feels the time is appropriate, they will be released. There will be no interference from our side. It is your culture to dial the administration and interfere, not ours," the Home Minister said to a question by Congress's Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.

He also took a dig at the Congress, accusing the party's government in the past of keeping Farooq Abdullah's father Sheikh Abdullah in jail for 11 years.

Amit Shah also asserted that the situation in the Kashmir Valley is "completely normal" and not a single bullet had been fired.

"The situation in Kashmir valley is completely normal. I can't match Congress's definition of normal because they had predicted bloodshed after the abrogation of Article 370. Nothing of that sort happened, not one bullet was fired," said Mr Shah.

Reading out data, the Home Minister also said 99.5 per cent students took examinations in Jammu and Kashmir and seven lakh patients visited the OPD in Srinagar.

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