Farooq Abdullah neither detained, nor arrested, he is wilfully staying at his own home: Shah

National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah is neither detained nor arrested, Union Home Minister Amit Shah clarified in Parliament on Tuesday. Union Home Minister had to make the statement in the Lok Sabha after several lawmakers raised the concern over the National Conference chief’s wellbeing. DMK’s Dayanidhi Maran and NCP’s Supriya Sule said that the Speaker should enquire about Abdullah’s current status. Shah made these remarks when Sule said Abdullah used to sit next to him in the House. She said he is not in House and his voice is not being heard. "He is neither under detention nor under arrest. He is at his home on his own will," Shah said. When Sule wondered whether the National conference leader was unwell, Shah said it was up to the doctors to say. "I can't carry out the treatment, it was up to doctors," he said. (KASHMIR LIVE UPDATES)

Apart from Sule, DMK’s Dayanidhi Maran also asked Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to take stock of the situation. In fact, he also claimed that the National Conference chief has been arrested. Outside Parliament, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also raised the issue and voiced concern over the state of Kashmiri leaders under house arrest.

Taking up the issue of house arrest of the Kashmiri leaders, Banerjee said that, “I have no information about Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti. I appeal to the government that they should not feel isolated. They are not terrorists. They should be released in the interest of the democratic institutions.”

Putting an end to all wild speculations and online and offline rumours, the Narendra Modi government on Monday revoked the Article 370 that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir. Union Home Minister Amit Shah also proposed the bifurcation of the state. The third key takeaway of today’s big announcement was the scrapping of Article 35A, which empowered Jammu and Kashmir state's legislature to define “permanent residents” of the state and provide special rights and privileges to those permanent residents. The Monday’s big announcements will have far reaching effects on the ground.

The Monday move ended the seven-decade old history of Article 370. Two months after India won independence 1947, Maharaja Hari Singh, the then ruler of Jammu and Kashmir, signed a Treaty of Accession for the state to join the rest of the union, formalised in Article 370 of the Indian Constitution. Article 35A of India's constitution permitted the local legislature in Kashmir to define permanent residents of the region. The article came into being in 1954 by a presidential order under the constitution's Article 370.

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