Srinagar: After a year under detention, People’s Conference chairperson Sajad Lone was released on Friday afternoon. “Finally [five] days short of a year I have been officially informed that I am a free man,” he said. “So much has changed.”
Lone took to Twitter to say: “…so much has changed. So have I. Jail was not a new experience. Earlier ones were harsh with usual doses of physical torture. But this was psychologically draining. Much to share hopefully soon.”
Lone, who was also a part of the Gupkar Declaration, was arrested on 5 August last year and lodged at MLA Hostel for six months before being shifted to Chruch Lane, where he was put under strict house detention.
The Parliament of India had in August last year adopted a resolution to abrogate Article 370, and passed a Bill to bifurcate the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories – Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, controlled directly by the Government of India.
Article 370 granted Jammu and Kashmir autonomy, and its scrapping was done as all Kashmiri political representatives were kept under detention, communication in Kashmir was blacked out, and thousands were imprisoned.
The removal of Article 370 has made concrete the fears of demographic change in the Muslim majority region of Kashmir, as laws regarding land ownership and citizenship have been changed by the Government of India controlled administration.
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