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Decision to release Masarat Alam taken during Governor's rule

It now looks like Masarat Alam was released right under the nose of the Home Ministry.

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In a new twist to the Masarat Alam release controversy, news has emerged that the process of it started when Jammu and Kashmir was reeling under Governor's rule. This goes directly against Rajnath Singh and Narendra Modi's claim that they were completely unaware when the Mufti government decided to release the hardline Hurriyat leader. 

Letters accessed by NDTV show that way back in early February, the state's Home Secretary Suresh Kumar told the Jammu District Magistrate that an order detaining Masarat under the Public Safety Act had become void due to the lack of follow-up. 

The district magistrate in his report to Home Department said that there are no fresh grounds to detain Masarat Alam, known as the brain behind the infamous stone pelting saga of 2010. 

During Governor's rule, the police reports directly to the Home Ministry. But still, it failed to bring any fresh charge against Alam to detain him. Thus on a letter dated March 4, Jammu district magistrate asked police to release Alam as his preventive detention had "not been approved by the government".

Masarat's release last Saturday has further exposed the deep faultlines that exist between allies PDP and BJP. While PDP hailed his release, BJP firmly criticised it. The opposition parties left no chance to corner the Central government in this issue. PM Modi gave a statement in the Parliament saying he shares the anguish of all the leaders. But now it looks like Masarat Alam was released right under the nose of the Home Ministry and no one in the top echelon had a clue about it. But it's interesting that even PDP didn't clear the air about the Mufti government not taking the decision of releasing Alam. 

The 43-year-old former commander of Hizbullah, Alam, who now heads Pro Pakistan J&K Muslim League had become a separatist cult-figure in 2010 when he led the agitation from underground and launched the "Quit Kashmir" movement giving sleepless nights to the police. A former student leader and a resident of Zaindar Moholla in Srinagar, he has served 17 years in jail at different intervals since the onset of militancy in 1990. An alumnus of top Christian missionary school here, Alam joined separatist Muslim Students Federation in his student days and was a regular participant in the protests and processions for 'azadi'.

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