Top Union Home Ministry officials told MPs of both the Houses of Parliament on Friday that the situation in the Union Territory ofJammu and Kashmir is getting normal and the detained political leaders are being released gradually, but no timeline can be given for the rest of the leaders, sources said.

At a meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on HomeAffairs, headed by Congress leader Anand Sharma, the MPs quizzed Union HomeSecretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla and his team of officials on the prevailing situation in Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, and the steps taken to bring back normalcy there.This was for the first time that the meeting of thecommittee was held since August 5, when the central government abrogated thespecial status given to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir under Article370 and divided it into two Union Territories.

The home secretary conveyed to the MPs that situation in theUT of Jammu and Kashmir is getting normal, schools have been opened, whileapple trading is going on, sources said.Asked specifically about the release ofdetained political leaders, Bhalla and his team of officers said they are beingreleased gradually but no timeframe about when the rest will be freed could begiven, sources said.

The home ministry officials also told the parliamentariansthat those who were detained under the Public Safety Act (PSA) can challengetheir detention in a designated tribunal and if not satisfied with its order,they can move the high court.Those detained under the PSA include former chiefminister Farooq Abdullah. EX- chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Muftiare also under detention since August 5.

The MPs also raised questioned on the curb on Internetservices in the Kashmir Valley to the officials told them that the restrictionhas been imposed as Internet has been used to carry out subversive activitiesby terrorists and spreading rumours by anti-social elements.Theparliamentarians were told that since 1990, a total of 71,254 terror violencetook place in Jammu and Kashmir in which 14,049 civilians, 5,293 securitypersonnel and 22,552 terrorists were killed.