9.3.15

Somewhere in Kashmir....


The Jammu - Kashmir government on Saturday released leading separatist and president of Muslim League Masrat Alam Bhat who was accused of being the mastermind of street violence across the Kashmir valley, heightening BJP's worry about the political cost of its alliance with chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed's PDP and straining the fledgling coalition.
The release of Alam, a senior figure in the separatist Hurriyat Conference, marked compliance with Sayeed's order on Thursday to release “political prisoners“ who faced no criminal charges. However, whether Alam fell into the category could be intensely debated. He was accused of being the choreographer of the violence which rampaged across the Kashmir valley for four months leaving 112 youths dead and hundreds of others, including security personnel, injured.
Masrat led the 2010 uprising by issuing protest calendars in June, 2010.Public Safety Act was slapped against him six times since his arrest in 2010, but these were quashed by the high court. However, he was detained on some other charges for committing similar offences in Jammu.
Deputy Commissioner (Jammu) A K Sahu issued the release orders of Alam, but evaded questions about the charges against him.
So did BJP spokespersons, even as sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity , indicated that the leadership was upset over the release and was analyzing the situation. They acknowledged that the development has compounded the embarrassment the party faced because of Sayeed's statement made on the day he was sworn in.
They said that while Sayeed has stressed that Alam was under preventive detention and there was no case pending against him, it will be difficult to explain the “nuances“ to the saffron constituency .
More importantly , the development and the preceding provocations from PDP appear to have raised suspicions that Sayeed was a man in a hurry and hell-bent upon promoting PDP's partisan interests in utter disregard of BJP's sensitivities and the need to keep the “coalition of twains“ going.
BJP's resentful ally Shiv Sena has already warned the party that it may have to pay a price for its “courage and stubbornness“ in aligning with Sayeed despite knowing his history fully well. It was on the fourth day of his government that the CM had directed the state police chief to initiate a process of releasing all those “political prisoners“ against whom no criminal charges are registered.
Speaking to reporters after his inauguration, the CM complimented the Hurriyat leadership and Pakistan for facilitating the success of the assembly elections. This was followed by a group of PDP MLAs asking for the return of the remains of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. They had called his hanging “travesty of justice“.
The ensuing furore saw Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Rajnath Singh repudiating the statements of BJP's new-found ally. Although senior BJP sources said they had “forcefully“ taken up the matter with Sayeed, their protests did not deter the CM from releasing Alam on the ground that he was a “political prisoner“ facing no criminal charges.
Though Sayeed's daughter and senior PDP functionary Mehbooba Mufti has tried to play down the statements and BJP's response as “teething troubles“, BJP sources said the party is beginning to worry that the CM's actions and utterances could undermine its “tough-on-national security“ credentials.
Right since its inception, BJP has taken an uncompromising stand on the full-scale integration of J-K with India, campaigning for the repeal of Article 370 which guarantees “special status“ to the sensitive border state and against making any concessions to the predominantly Muslim Kashmir valley .
In contrast, PDP is a stout defender of Art 370, supports talks with separatists and Pakistan and has called for “soft borders“. The two parties justified the unlikely coalition by saying that it was necessitated by the peculiarity of the mandate of assembly polls which saw PDP winning 28 seats in the valley while BJP swept the Hindu-majority Jammu region.The two sides also justified the political alliance by saying that it could mark a breakthrough for efforts for ethnic and regional reconciliation.
While BJP defends the decision which involved de-emphasizing its stand on Article 370, Sayeed's actions since the swearing-in have made it wary of the ally's intent.
Agency reports from Nagpur said BJP President Amit Shah explained the situation in detail to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and Suresh Bhayyaji Joshi, the organization's second-in command. The party leadership feels that it has been more than accommodative and cannot be more flexible, given the readiness of opponents as well as resentful allies like Shiv Sena to pounce on Sayeed's decisions.
According to an agency report from Mumbai, the Sena on Saturday termed as “treason“ Sayeed's comments complimenting Pakistan for helping with peaceful conduct of J&K polls and the demand for the return of Guru's remains.
Even RSS' trusted man and now BJP general secretary , Ram Madhav, who was engaged in government formation talks, had no response to Sayeed's statements, though Modi had declared that the government was not in agreement with the CM's views.
Accusing Sayeed of never missing an opportunity to demand an independent Kashmir and even taking a pro-Pakistan stance, the Shiv Sena said he also supported Pakistan when it proclaimed terrorists as “freedom-fighters“.
It also recalled how as India's home minister in the government of then PM V P Singh, Sayeed's daughter Rubaiya Sayeed had been kidnapped and released only in exchange for two Pakistani terrorists.“Later, it came out that the kidnap drama was carried out with Sayeed's knowledge and all concerned, including the BJP , had publicly criticised it then,“ the edit said.

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