India sets free Kashmiri politician Mehbooba Mufti after a year

Indian authorities on Tuesday released a top Kashmiri politician from detention more than a year after New Delhi scrapped Indian-controlled Kashmir’s special status, a move that triggered widespread anger and economic ruin amid a harsh security clampdown.

Mehbooba Mufti had been held in detention since August 2019 alongside thousands of politicians and activists after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government passed legislation in Parliament that stripped Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood, annulled its separate constitution and removed inherited protections on land and jobs. The decision also split the region into two federal territories — Ladakh and Jammu-Kashmir.