Hurriyat house arrest drama threatens to upstage India-Pakistan talks
Hurriyat leaders held after Delhi calls DGP; freed when PDP objects; may be held again if they come to Delhi.
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Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umer Farooq at his home in Srinagar on Thursday. (express Photo by: Shuaib Masoodi)
Three days ahead of the NSA-level talks between India and Pakistan, the J&K government Thursday morning detained senior Kashmir separatist leaders only to release them hours later. The flip-flop on the detentions sent conflicting signals, from Srinagar to New Delhi.
Intelligence sources said though the separatists have been freed for now, it is likely that they will be picked up in New Delhi when they travel to meet Sartaj Aziz, Advisor to the Pakistan Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs, over the weekend. Besides interacting with Aziz, Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit has also invited the separatists to dinner.
According to a senior government functionary, J&K DGP K Rajendra Kumar, acting on the advice of Director, Intelligence Bureau, put Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umer Farooq under house arrest, detained JKLF chairman Yasin Malik and restricted the movement of other separatist leaders.
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In J&K, there were two versions on what transpired in the hours before the detentions. A senior government functionary maintained: “The DGP acted on his own without informing Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. He will pay the price for this.”
“This is not the first time that Sayeed has not been kept in the loop. Earlier in March, the release of (Hurriyat hardliner) Masarat Alam was not specifically told… The DGP had then just said political prisoners will be released following a Supreme Court order. Masarat Alam is not just another political prisoner,” the functionary said.
While J&K government sources said Rajendra Kumar may be moved to another police department, a PDP leader said the Chief Minister was told about the IB Director’s request to the DGP. “The CM was aware. It is likely that the matter will be put to rest once the NSA-level talks are over,” the leader said.
The Central government has been uncomfortable since Wednesday when it learnt that Basit had invited separatist leaders for an interaction with Aziz. While the Pakistan High Commission said such talks were not unprecedented, the Ministry of External Affairs found it “provocative” and said it would respond appropriately.
The sources said the Director, IB was acting on the instructions of National Security Advisor Ajit K Doval. “Ideally, the Union Home Minister should have called the Chief Minister advising him on the measure. Or, even if the Director, IB informed the DGP, the DGP in turn should have told the Chief Minister. But neither happened,” sources said.
Sources said Sayeed learnt of the arrests in Uri Thursday morning following a call from his daughter and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti. The DGP, who was with the Chief Minister then, was immediately told to release the separatists.
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