Faisal is the chief of the Jammu and Kashmir People’s Movement (JKPM) and was detained soon after the Centre’s decision to dilute Article 370 and revoke Jammu and Kashmir’s special status on August 5, 2019.

After his six-month preventive detention ended in February 2020, he was booked under the stringent PSA, which allows for detention up to two years. The detention was extended on May 14.

In a dossier on the young politician, the Jammu and Kashmir administration said that his “support for soft separatism” through social media posts warranted his detention. The document also talks about alleged “provocative statements” made by him.

Soon after his detention in August 2019, a habeas corpus petition was filed in the Delhi high court, but Faesal applied for it to be withdrawn in September. In an affidavit submitted to the court by his wife, Faesal said that “hundreds of other residents of the state of Jammu and Kashmir have been unlawfully detained” and because of them do not have legal counsel or other remedies, Faesal decided not to “pursue the present petition as a legal remedy against his unlawful detention. Therefore this court is requested to kindly permit the petitioner to withdraw the present petition.”

Madani, who is the maternal uncle of former J&K chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, was lodged with the National Conference general secretary Ali Mohammed Sagar at a government bungalow, according to news agency PTI. His release, along with Peer Mansoor’s, comes within a month of their detention being extended on May 5 for a period of three months.

Omar Abdullah, who was also under detention until his release in late March, welcomed the decision to revoke the PSA against Faesal, Mansoor and Madani. He, however, said he was disappointed that Mehbooba Mufti, Sagar Sb, Hilal Lone and Nayeem Akhtar continued to be under detention.