Mufti government to abide by court orders on release of prisoners

Unfazed by the controversy over the release of separatist Masarat Alam, Peoples Democratic Party on Tuesday said the Jammu and Kashmir government will abide by the court directives on the release of political prisoners.
"Whatever the Supreme Court and courts tell us, we are going to abide by that (on release of political prisoners in future)", senior PDP leader and Minister for Sports, Imran Raza Ansari told reporters on the sidelines of a sports event here.

Asked whether the Mufti Sayeed government has written to New Delhi assuring it that the policy to release political prisoners will be put on hold, Raza said, "Whatever law says ...whatever courts direct us ...we have been maintaining this". On the issue of consulting coalition partner BJP or New Delhi, Raza said, "We are implementing authorities (of court orders)".

"We are doing political reconciliation. Let that happen," he said. BJP legislators in Jammu and Kashmir had yesterday lodged a strong protest with Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed over the release of Alam and demanded his re-arrest.

The party had also taken exception to the "misinformation campaign" that the decision to release Alam was taken after consulting it. Under intense attack from BJP, PDP had defended the decision and said the step was taken to facilitate creation of a conducive atmosphere for talks with separatists.