File photo of separatist Masarat Alam
The government today faced allegations that it had misled Parliament on separatist Masarat Alam's release from jail. The opposition raised questions after NDTV's exclusive report on letters that reveal the decision was taken when Jammu and Kashmir was under central rule.
The letters show the state home department had flagged in February that a detention order against Masarat Alam had lapsed and he could not be kept in jail without any charges. As the state was then under governor's rule, the union home ministry should have known.
"I have said what I had to yesterday in the house. I have asked the Jammu and Kashmir government to send me details of the release. I can only comment once I get all the details," Home Minister Rajnath Singh said today.
On his party's trouble-prone alliance with the PDP, Mr Singh said, "Our priority is not any particular government. The country's security is more important for us. We will not compromise country's security."
The letters accessed by NDTV show that the Mufti Mohammad Sayeed government, which took power in Jammu and Kashmir on March 1, had no direct role in the separatist's release. This contradicts the Centre and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who on Monday said that the state government led by his ally had not consulted his government. "I share the opposition's aakrosh (anger)," he said in Parliament.
In a letter on February 4, the state's Home Secretary Suresh Kumar told the Jammu District Magistrate that an order detaining the separatist under the Public Safety Act had become void as it had not been confirmed in time by the state Home Department. A month later on March 4, three days after the PDP-BJP government took power, the Jammu district magistrate wrote to the police saying Alam's preventive detention had "not been approved by the government" and he should be released.
"It amounts to misleading the house. Government must present true facts in the house," said BSP leader Mayawati.
"We want a clarification on whether the release was decided during governor's rule," said Congress' Rajiv Shukla in the Rajya Sabha.