By : Tahaa Yaseen
Former bureaucrat turned Jammu and Kashmir politician Shah Faesal is likely to be released after spending close to 10 months in detention since August 14, following the Union Territory’s decision to revoke the Public Safety Act (PSA) slapped on him and two other senior politicians from the Peoples Democractic Party (PDP)- Sartaj Madani and Peer Mansoor—leaving former chief minister of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, Mehbooba Mufti among the few prominent leaders from the region who continue to be in detention after the abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories in August last.
NC general secretary Ali Mohammad Sager and former J&K ministers, Nayeem Akthar and Hilal Akbar Lone also continue to be in detention. Former J&K chief ministers and National Conference leaders Omar Abdullah and his father Farooq Abdullah were released from detention earlier this year.
Shah Faesal was detained under the stringent for his “anti-government” social media posts and an alliance with former J&K legislator, engineer Shiekh Abdul Rashid, who was arrested in a terror funding case and is currently lodged in Tihar jail, according to a government dossier on the matter. Faesal had allied with Rashid for J&K assembly polls in June last year.
Faesal was given a copy of the dossier carrying 27 pages of his social media posts, made in the last few years on February 15 this year by the authorities. Shah Faesal had a good following on social media and used it even to mobilise funds for his party– the J&K Political Movement (JKPM).
Shah Faesal was first detained at the Delhi airport on August 14, 2019, after he reached the Capital from Srinagar and was sent back to Kashmir. In Srinagar, he was detained at the Centaur Hotel and later at the MLA hostel.
