Forty-five year old Masarat Alam, the rabid pro-Pakistani activist walked out of jail last month after remaining interned for four years in the past. The event gave some tense moments to the Union Home Minister who sought a report from the State Government asking to clarify the circumstances under which Masarat’s release came about even when criminal cases were pending against him. J&K Police had found him the key figure in leading a stone pelting mob of Srinagar youth in 2010 in which about a hundred youth had to pay with their precious lives. Mufti Sayeed’s Government ordered release of Masarat Alam without prior information to the Centre or to the coalition partner. The Prime Minister was obliged to make a brief reference in the Parliament saying he was clueless about the release. He said the State Government did not disclose its intention of releasing Masarat.
Emboldened by walking out of the prison house unscathed, it did not take Masarat long to corner the State Government. Separatists organized in uptown Srinagar in the locality of Hyderpura a rally to welcome pro-Pakistani hardliner Ali Shah Geelani on his return to Srinagar after spending the winter in New Delhi. Masarat Alam was a conspicuous figure among the posse of recipients. The crowds ran into frenzy as Gilani appeared. Firebrand rabid including Masarat Alam ventured outright anti-India slogans and tantrum, something that has become the article of faith for the fanatics in Srinagar. In a state of frenzy and passion, Pakistani flag was hoisted on the occasion and the crowds yelled slogans hailing the event of hoisting the flag. In his vitriolic, Masarat Alam exuded encomiums for his ideological mentor, Hafiz Saeed, the chief of Lashkar-i-Taiyyaba, an organization that is spearheading armed jihad in Kashmir.
Budgam Police Station has filed FIR No 92/2015 under sections 13 Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 147 (rioting), 341 (causing injury), 336 (attacking govt employee), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of Rs 50 or more) of RPC. Interestingly, the Police have not invoked the clauses of sedition and anti-national activities against him that have bearing on the integrity and solidarity of the State of India. We cannot say whether the Police filed the FIR on its own or on the behest of the Central Government. In normal circumstances, the clause of sedition should have been invoked. Pakistan is an enemy country because apart from waging three wars, it is deeply pursuing a proxy war with India in Kashmir for last two decades and more. Thousand of the people in J&K have been killed owing to the unleashing of violence and gunfire by Pakistani agents infiltrating into our territory clandestine with the motive of subversion.
We do not think that the Home Ministry has exerted any pressure on State Government to put Gilani under house arrest and arrest Masarat Alam on charges detailed above. Of course, the Home Ministry is concerned about anti national activities of some people in Srinagar and expects the State Government to take proper steps to curb the tendency.
Masarat and others of his ilk have to understand that for the sake of preserving her secular and democratic dispensation as enshrined in the constitution, Indian state does not hesitate to confront her adversaries very adequately. History of Indo-Pak relations is replete with answer to these questions. He may do and say whatever he likes, but he cannot escape from the harsh reality that J&K will remain part of the Indian Union until eternity. No power on this earth can snatch it away from India. The might of the State will speak when it has to speak. However, India’s real power lies not in her iron muscle but in the solidarity and sovereignty of her people who are wedded to humanitarian laws and secular democratic dispensation. The fundamental philosophy of Indian State is the rule of humanism and justice, which only secular democracy can provide. India’s real strength lies in the State treating all her citizens with evenhanded justice.
Administration disallowed Gilani and Masarat to lead a protest march in the town of Tral. The simple reason why the police arrested Masarat and put Gilani under house arrest is that they would incite anti-India frenzy among the audience and then the crowds would resort to violence, stone throwing and other subversive activities.
Before we close, we would like to put a question to Gilani & Co., who are so much enamoured of Pakistan. Do they approve the treatment, which General Musharraf as President of Pakistan meted out to Nawwab Bughti of Baluchistan who, like Hurriyatis, claimed to be leading an azaadi movement? When reporter asked Musharraf why he ordered finishing Nawwab Bughti with the help of a bunker-penetrating missile, he retorted that anti-national elements deserved no other treatment. Will Gilani and Masarat reflect on that?
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