Omar Abdullah

The statement of Acting Assistant US Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Alice G Wells came a day after National Conference vice-president Omar was released after charges under the Public Safety Act (PSA), slapped on him in February, were revoked.

Mufti, Naeem Akhtar, Ali Mohammad Sagar, Peer Mansoor and Shah Faesal are some of the known faces who continue to be detained under the Public Safety Act, which was slapped on them during their preventive detention in the wake of the revocation of the erstwhile state's special status under Article 370 in August last year.

Abdullah, who was released after the administration revoked the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) against him, also spoke to reporters, saying they were violating orders on social distancing by coming to meet him and this was a time to take precautions.

Omar Abdullah has been in detention since August 2019 when the Centre abrogated provisions of Article 370 and bifurcated Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories.

A bench of Justices Arun Mishra and M R Shah told counsel appearing for the Centre that Abdullah's sister Sara Abdullah Pilot's plea against his detention will be heard on merit if he is not released soon.

The remarks by the bench came at the fag end of the brief hearing during which Attorney General K K Venugopal said that petitioner should have first approached the Jammu and Kashmir High Court instead of moving the apex court.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta filed the response on behalf of the Jammu and Kashmir administration on Pilot's plea before a bench of justices Arun Mishra and Indira Banerjee.

Rajnath Singh also said that he hopes they will contribute to normalising the situation in Jammu and Kashmir

A bench, comprising Justices Arun Mishra and Indira Banerjee, said it would hear on March 2 Pilot's plea challenging Abdullah's detention.

The bench said the plea could be heard on February 13

A bench headed by Justice N V Ramana will hear the plea of Sara Abdullah Pilot, who has said that Abdullah's detention is "manifestly illegal" and there is no question of him being a "threat to the maintenance of public order".

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah's "considerable influence" over people, including the ability to attract voters to polling booths despite poll boycott calls and the potential for channelling energies of public for any cause, has been cited in support of his detention under the PSA.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the petitioner, mentioned the matter for urgent listing before a bench headed by Justice N V Ramana.

The PSA dossier prepared by the police against the 49-year-old Omar, states his ability to convince electorates to vote in huge numbers even during the peak of militancy and poll boycott calls by separatists and militants

Taking to Twitter, Priyanka said the two Jammu and Kashmir leaders have upheld the Constitution and abided by the democratic process and never ascribed to violence and divisiveness.

Mufti and Abdullah, besides two political stalwarts from the PDP and its arch-rival National Conference, were booked under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) by the administration on Thursday, officials in the union territory said.

Abdullah, along with other senior political leaders from J&K, has been kept in preventive detention since August 2019 when the BJP-led government at the Centre abrogated Article 370 of the Constitution

In the latest picture which has emerged, Omar Abdullah can be seen wearing a grizzly white beard, a beanie and covered in snow.

The party will chalk out its future course of action after meeting the top leadership

Former chief ministers Omar Abdullah of the National Conference and Mehbooba Mufti of the PDP have been detained at Hari Niwas on Gupkar road.