Sources said that at present, over a dozen leaders are currently lodged at Srinagar’s MLA hostel. (Reuters)

The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Tuesday released a former PDP legislator and a trade leader who had been were under detention since August 5, when the Centre revoked the special status of J&K and bifurcated the state into two Union Territories.

A senior security official in Srinagar told The Indian Express that PDP leader Aijaz Ahmad Mir, the former MLA from Shopian district, was released from the MLA Hostel on Tuesday.

Separately, renowned trade leader Shakeel Qalender, the former president of the Federation of Chamber of Industries, Kashmir, was also released. A senior administration official told The Indian Express that Qalender has been released from the central jail in Srinagar.

Qalander had served on the C Rangarajan committee, which was set up in 2010 by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to formulate a plan for creation of jobs in J&K.

Other leaders still detained in J&K include former chief ministers Mehbooba Mufti, Omar Abdullah and Farooq Abdullah.