I'm a free man: J&K leader Sajad Lone on release from house arrest

Sri Nagar: Almost a year after he was detained in the wake of the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019, People’s Conference chairman and former state minister Sajad Lone was released from house arrest on Friday.

Lone took to Twitter to announce his release and said that jail was not a new experience for him but the latest one was psychologically draining. “Finally 5 days short of a year I have been officially informed that I am a free man. So much has changed. So have I. Jail was not a new experience. Earlier ones were harsh with usual doses of physical torture. But this was psychologically draining. Much to share hopefully soon,” he tweeted. This was his first tweet after August 5, 2019.

On February 6 this year, Lone, along with  PDP youth wing president Waheed Parra, was shifted from the MLAs hostel to their residences, where they remained under house arrest.

Finally 5 days short of a year I have been officially informed that I am a free man. So much has changed. So have I. Jail was not a new experience. Earlier ones were harsh with usual doses of physical torture. But this was psychologically draining. Much to share hopefully soon.

— Sajad Lone (@sajadlone) July 31, 2020

Lone was among several politicians, lawyers, businessmen, and activists in the Valley who were placed under detention after Centre revoked Article 370 and scrapped the special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

Sajad Lone, whose father Abdul Gani Lone was killed by militants in 2002, was made a minister in the PDP-BJP coalition government from the BJP’s quota. Lone was also instrumental in the conduct of panchayat and local body polls after the NC and PDP decided to boycott the civic polls last year.

Lone, however, strongly opposed New Delhi’s moves to tamper with J&K’s special status. Days ahead of New Delhi’s move, he was a part of the all-party meet in Srinagar that had called “any fiddling with J&K’s special status an aggression against the people of the state”.