India, Nov. 30 -- Awami Workers Party leader Baba Jan was released recently from prison after spending nine years behind the bar on charges of rioting during a 2011 protest over the Attabad Lake disaster.

Jan reunited with his family after nine years.

He reportedly thanked people of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and rights activists for holding protests for his release.

On January 4, 2010, at least 20 people died in a landslide that blocked the Hunza River, creating the Attabad lake that gradually expanded 23 kilometres upstream, submerging four villages - Ainabad, Shishkat, Gulmit and Gulkin, reports Geo News.

The landslide had also blocked the Karakoram Highway, a vital trade link to China, cutting off 26,000 people in the Upper Hunza V...