JOIN USIt turns out that the controversy over the release Masrat Alam Bhat from jail by the Jammu and Kashmir government was more manufactured than substantial. The Mufti Mohammad Sayeed government ordered his release and even took credit for it. But it has now come to be known that the Omar Abdullah government had prepared the ground for it and the decision to release Alam was taken in February when the state was under Central rule. Alam was in jail for over four years on charges like attempted murder and incitement of violence for his role in the stone-throwing agitation of 2010. He was held under the Public Safety Act and the detention was extended beyond two years which was the prescribed limit. He also had got bail in all cases against him and so there was actually no legal justification for holding him any longer in jail.
The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has support among sections of people close to radicals and separatists. The government probably wanted to show to this section that the party’s alliance with the BJP did not weaken its political positions and limit its freedom of action. That is why the government owned up the decision though its background predated its coming to power. The BJP protested too much and perhaps even hypocritically, because the Centre cannot escape responsibility for a decision taken by the J&K home department when state was under Central rule. Prime Minister Narendra Modi blamed the state government for keeping the Centre in the dark about Alam’s release. The Centre has also sought an explanation from the state. The response was natural because the BJP and the government have always wanted to be seen as uncompromising on national security issues. The Congress and the opposition parties too protested loudly because they wanted to widen the perceived differences between the PDP and the BJP.
The controversy is an early warning of the contentious issues that may come up in the relations between the PDP and the BJP and may affect the working of the government in the state. The two parties have very different positions and disparate constituencies and working together will call for a lot of mutual understanding and hard work. The issue of Alam’s release came up after the controversial remark of the Mufti which credited the peaceful conduct of elections in the state to Pakistan and the militants. Both parties had claimed that they have come together to give a good government to the state. They should stick to that goal by expanding their common space.