I am ready to share tips on surviving quarantine: Omar Abdullah tweets on lighter note after release

"On a lighter note if anyone wants tips on surviving quarantine or a lock down I have months of experience at my disposal, perhaps a blog is in order," he tweeted.

Omar said he is ready to help the authority to face the ongoing COVID 19 outbreak challenge.

"We face the fight of our lives over the next few weeks & months as we come to terms & work to defeat #COVIDー19. I will do everything in my individual capacity to help the authorities overcome this challenge & I appeal to all of you to do the same," he said.

The detention of Omar was revoked after Public Safety Act (PSA) slapped on him was withdrawn by the J&K administration on Tuesday. 

The former chief minister was released a day after political parties, including NC MP Hasnain Masoodi and Iltija Mufti, daughter of former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, demanded the release of political detainees in view of Coronavirus scare.

  Omar, who turned 50 on March 10, has spent 232 days in custody. The release order of Omar comes less than two weeks after his father and NC president Farooq Abdullah was released following revocation of his detention under PSA after over seven months.

He also met Farooq Abdullah after the release and shared an image on Instagram.

"Had lunch with my mum & dad for the first time in almost 8 months. I can’t remember a better meal even though I’ve been in a bit of a daze & don’t remember what I ate," he said sharing his experience of meeting his father and mother after several months of being in detention.

Immediately after his release, Omar had said he is seeing a much different world now than what he had seen on Aug 5.

"232 days after my detention today I finally left Hari Niwas. It’s a very different world today to the one that existed on 5th August 2019," he said.

The Supreme Court had last week, on the petition of Sara Abdullah Pilot, sister of Omar, seeking his immediate release, asked the Centre to respond by this week whether it planned to free him, or said that it would hear the plea against his detention under PSA “on merits”. “Now that things are settled in Kashmir, what are your instructions for his (Omar Abdullah's) release,” the court had asked.

Omar, Farooq and Mehbooba, besides dozens of other former ministers and legislators were detained on August 5, when centre abrogated Article 370 and bifurcated the state into two Union Territories.

Omar was detained under Section 107 of CrPC (security for keeping the peace), and once he had served the maximum period of detention, the NC VP was slapped with PSA on February 5.

In its PSA dossier, the administration described him as a threat to public safety. It said he was “planning activities against the Union government”. It also highlighted ‘his popularity and potential to draw voters to polling booths’. However, the language used in the dossier drew severe criticism from all political parties in J&K and rest of the country.