The Hindu : Militants facing grave charges won't be released: Mehbooba

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Nov 28, 2002

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Militants facing grave charges won't be released: Mehbooba

By Our Staff Reporter

JAMMU NOV. 27. The People's Democratic Party leader, Mehbooba Mufti, today said that her party would stick to a policy the central theme of which was the interests of the people.

No step would that would weaken the security of Jammu and Kashmir, would be taken

She told The Hindu here today that release of political prisoners should not be interpreted as the State Government going soft on militancy and weakening the security of the State. ``We, as a party in power, are very much concerned about the security and life of the people of all the three regions of the State and it is our duty to protect them."

The parties in power had not taken any step that would jeopardise the security of the people, she added.

It was malicious to say ``we will release all militants who are under detention. We will definitely not release militants who are facing charges of a severe nature. Every case is studied and processed. We can well see this from the type of the people we have released."

Asking the people to be objective in their criticism, Ms. Mehbooba said, "Look at the people we released. The most prominent case being mentioned again and again was of the JKLF chairman, Yasin Malik, who was charged with the POTA. We released him when the authorities could not substantiate the charges. After all, everyone has to be tried under the law of the land.

``When the court gave him bail, why should we keep him under detention? Mr. Malik's kidneys had failed and he was already undergoing treatment''.

The People's Democratic Party leader was criticised for her statement to the BBC in which she was alleged to have asked India and Pakistan to stop meddling with the affairs of the State.

"We should try to take things in the right perspective and not create unnecessary controversies. India is a big country. It does not belong to any single party. When we criticise the ruling party's policies at the Centre, that does not mean that we are criticising the Indian nation and the people as a whole".

She regretted that whenever a criticism emanated from the State towards the ruling party at the Centre it was interpreted as being anti-India.

"There are several State Governments which criticise the Central Government openly and they are not dubbed anti-India. Then why the double standards for us?"

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