New Delhi, Oct 08: The Supreme Court today asked the Jammu and Kashmir government to file an affidavit by October 31 detailing the cases pending against residents of Pak-occupied Kashmir (PoK) who have been detained for long periods in various jails under the State Public Safety Act. A bench comprising Justice Ruma Pal and Justice P V Reddi passed this order when petitions filed by several PoK residents came up for hearing. This case was earlier heard by a bench headed by Justice M B Shah, which had issued notice to the Advocate General of the state on September 18 when the union government clarified that it had nothing to do with the detention of these PoK residents. Four of the petitioners had sought a direction from the apex court for their release from a jail in Uttar Pradesh saying they could not be detained under foreigners act as they were residents of PoK, which was an integral part of Jammu and Kashmir and India.
The petitioners were Amir Hamza of Chowk Kambal, Mirpur, Sajjad Ali Bukhari of Mandyari, Kotli, Marddin alias Amzad Chadha of Qazi Sharief, Muzzaffarabad and Alam Khan of village Siri Dora, Muzzaffarabad.

All four, who approached the court through the state legal aid committee, contended that "a citizen of PoK is the citizen of India being a permanent state subject (permanent resident) of Jammu and Kashmir." Bureau Report