Congress welcomes Farooq Abdullah's release, wants others to be freed

The Congress has said that it was "wrong" on part of the union government to keep sitting MP and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah under detention for so long. The party also said that he being the sitting MP should have been allowed to attend parliament proceedings.

New Delhi: Expressing satisfaction over the release of National Conference (NC) president and sitting MP Farooq Abdullah from the house arrest, the Congress on Friday he should have been freed long ago as he has been chief minister and is a sitting member of parliament.

It also asked the government to release others immediately.

"The whole world is criticising the government's decision to keep people like him under detention," Tariq Anwar, senior Congress leader and former minister, told ETV Bharat here.

He said the union government must not have prevented him from attending the parliament as he is a sitting MP.

"Even if he was under detention, the government should have allowed him to attend the house," he said, adding that it was "highly undemocratic".

Another senior Congress leader and former union minister P Chidambaram also raised a question, asking the government why Farooq Abdullah was kept in detention for over seven months.

"Why did the government keep him under detention and if there's was a reason, then what is the reason to release him today," he asked.

Earlier in the day, the Jammu and Kashmir administration released Abdullah, 82, by revoking his detention under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA).

He was in detention for over seven months.

There are many more leaders from Jammu and Kashmir who are still detained, and the grand old party has demanded their release too.