Method to go: On Farooq Abdullah’s release

The release of five-time Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Farooq Abdullah on Saturday after seven months in detention is a welcome step that could open fresh political possibilities in the troubled area. The conditions of his release, if any, are not public but it is clear that there were backchannels open between him and the Centre prior to the release. Taken together with other current relaxations in J&K that was put under a lockdown last August as the Centre unilaterally ended its unique constitutional status, his release might help reopen the public space in the Valley. Accompanying his release, Prime Minister Modi guaranteed a delegation of the recently formed Apni Party led by former People’s Democratic Celebration (PDP) leader Altaf Bukhari that he would work towards the rest