Srinagar: The release of separatist leader Massarat Aalam is playing a real spoilsport to ruin the recently cobbled up alliance between Jammu and Kashmir’s PDP and the BJP.
Hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the Lok Sabha that the Centre was not intimated about Mr Aalam’s release by the Mufti Sayeed-led PDP-BJP government and that his government would not tolerate any such step which undermines country’s unity, territorial integrity and sovereignty, a group of BJP MLAs met the Chief Minister in Jammu to submit a memorandum demanding an immediate (re) arrest of the separatist leader.
They also asked Mr Sayeed to review his decision to revoke Mr Alam’s detention under the state’s stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) and demanded that all cases against him be investigated again.
Under attack from its coalition partner BJP, the PDP said the step was taken to facilitate creation of a conducive atmosphere for talks with separatists. “We fully defend the decision of the government to release Aalam. The courts have ordered his release and the state government is implementing it,” senior party leader and MLC, Firdous Tak said.
The BJP confirmed that a delegation of its legislators lodged a formal protest with the Chief Minister and told him that it wanted the state government to function strictly according to the agreed upon Common Minimum Programme (CMP).
They also asked Mr Sayeed to convene a meeting of steering committee of the alliance partners to discuss all contentious issues that have surfaced due to some of the recent statements from PDP side and Aalam’s release.
44-year-old Aalam, who allegedly played key role in organising the 2010 civil unrest in the Valley during which as many as 120 youth were killed, mainly in police firings, was released on Saturday after remaining incarcerated for four and a half years.
This came days after the Chief Minister instructed the police to initiate the process of releasing all political prisoners against whom there are no criminal cases.
