Srinagar
A former PDP legislator and a trade leader were released on Tuesday after remaining under detention for about six months in the summer capital, since August 5 when Centre scrapped Article 370 and bifurcated the state into two Union Territories (UTs).
Official sources said that PDP MLA Aijaz Ahmad Mir and trade leader Shakeel Ahmed Qalandar, who is a former president of the Federation Chamber of Industries Kashmir, were released.
On Sunday four political leaders were released, including Abdul Majid Larmi, Ghulam Nabi Bhat, Dr Muhammad Shafi, and Muhammad Yusuf Bhat.
With the release of the one more political leader, the number of leaders under detention in the Valley stands at 16. These include three chief ministers — Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti.
Farooq Abdullah has been detained in his home at the Gupkar road in Srinagar, which has been designated as the sub-jail.
Omar Abdullah is detained at Hari Niwas and Mehbooba Mufti has been kept in a government building on the Maulana Azad residency road.
A total of 35 mainstream politicians were moved from the Centaur hotel on the banks of the Dal lake to the MLA hostel in November last year.
A Supreme Court bench headed by Justice N.V. Ramana had ordered the Union Territory administration to review all curbs that have been in place since August 5 in Jammu and Kashmir.
