Nothing wrong in release of Masrat Alam: Mehbooba Mufti

There was “nothing wrong” in the release of hardcore separatist Masrat Alam, People's Democratic Party (PDP)  President Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday said maintaining he never used a gun and was a product of the 2010 stone-pelting unrest which he had spearheaded.

She said the Jammu and Kashmir government headed by her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was only upholding a Supreme Court order by freeing the separatist. Alam’s release last week had rocked Parliament and prompted Prime Minister Narendra Modi to declare that it was “unacceptable”.  “Nothing wrong,” she said at an event in New Delhi when asked if she thinks Alam’s release was wrong, a development which has strained PDP’s ties with coalition partner BJP.

"If upholding the direction of the Supreme Court is wrong, then what do we do?... You are trying to subvert your own Supreme Court when it comes to Kashmir. How can you do that?," she wondered, referring to a court direction that Alam could be further detained only if there are fresh grounds for doing so.

The combative PDP leader, who asserted that PDP-BJP alliance was driven by the mandate, said there should not be "double standards" over court judgements.

"You pick up number 28 on the list and hang Afzal Guru and say it's SC judgement but when the same SC says release Alam who is being held without charge you question it," she said.

"I wish when Masrat Alam was released that people should have been debating how the Supreme Court has evolved to the extent... That it has given a judgement entirely contrary to what is the security mindset in the country.

"Masrat Alam would not acknowledge it but I am sure he in his heart of hearts or people around him would be talking 'Oh God, this is the Indian Supreme Court," she said.