Jammu and Kashmir administration to release three politicians from detention today

Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir administration will release three politicians detained since August 5 after the Centre abrogated special status granted to the state under the Constitution, officials said on Wednesday night.

Yawar Mir, Noor Mohammed and Shoiab Lone will be released on various grounds which includes signing of a bond, they said, explaining the reasons for ending of their detention.

While Mir is a former MLA of the PDP from Rafiabad assembly seat, Lone contested unsuccessfully on a Congress ticket from North Kashmir and later resigned from the party. He was considered close to People's Conference chief Sajjad Lone.

Noor Mohammed is a National Conference worker who has been managing the party's show in the militancy-infested Batmaloo area of the Srinagar city. Before his release, he will be signing a bond to maintain peace and good behaviour, the officials said.

The governor administration had earlier released Imran Ansari of the People's Conference and Syed Akhoon on health grounds on September 21. More than a thousand people, including politicians, separatists, activists and lawyers, were detained after the August 5 decision of the Central government to abrogate the special status.

The detainees include three former chief ministers Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti. Over 250 were sent to the jails outside Jammu and Kashmir. Farooq Abdullah was subsequently detained under the stringent Public Safety Act, while other politicians were mostly detained under different sections of the criminal procedure code.