The Hindu : Prisoners' release: Cases yet to be reviewed

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Sunday, Feb 02, 2003

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Prisoners' release: Cases yet to be reviewed

By Shujaat Bukhari

JAMMU FEB. 1. Its pro-people image notwithstanding, the People's Democratic Party-led coalition in Jammu and Kashmir has failed to keep its promise of reviewing the cases of political detenus languishing in jails for several years.

Ostensibly under pressure from the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre and the PDP's coalition partner, Congress, the meeting of the Joint Screening Committee, set up for the purpose, has been postponed thrice. Apart from the Financial Commissioner (Home), the Director-General of Police, the Additional Director-General of CID from the State and a Joint Secretary in the Union Home Ministry are members of the committee, which was to review the case of 108 detenus.

Soon after taking over, the Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, ordered the release of political prisoners, including the chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, Mohammad Yaseen Malik, who was granted bail. This led to a controversy with the BJP linking the issue with the November attack on the Raghunath Temple and other terrorist strikes. But the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, defended the State Government's decision to release the prisoners.

Releasing prisoners against whom there are no serious charges, is, in fact, among the first commitments in the common minimum programme of the ruling coalition. But the repeated postponement of the JSC meeting has only raised doubts about the Mufti Government's capacity to resist pressure on contentious issues.

Sources say that this time, the pressure is not from the Central Government but from the Congress, which does not want to be pushed to the wall by the BJP in the wake of the coming Assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh and other States. "There is no possibility of these cases being reviewed this year as the elections in other States are due in the coming months,'' said a political analyst.

The State Government, which has won laurels for getting tough with encroachers and taking many positive measures, may face resentment if it does not live up to its promises. Another ally and leader of the People's Democratic Forum, M.Y. Tarigami, has demanded immediate steps for considering the release of the "innocent'' people behind bars. The PDP, which is facing its first test in the by-election to the Pampore Assembly segment on February 26, may find its opponents exploiting the issue to their advantage.

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