Pakistani flag issue: Home Minister directs J&K CM Mufti Sayeed to take ‘immediate and stringent action’ against separatist rally

By Newsgram Staff Writer

In an effort to reign in calls of a separate state in Kashmir, Home Minister Rajnath Singh has commanded Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed to take "immediate and stringent action" in this regard.

The directive comes in the backdrop of Pakistan flags being unfurled at the rally of Kashmiri separatist Masrat Alam, who was controversially released from prison recently.

As per reports, the Home Minister instructed the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister that there can be no compromise on national security. "Politics cannot impinge on national security," Singh said.

Masarat Alam is the alleged mastermind behind the massive protests in 2010 that saw Kashmiris clashing for months with soldiers and police officers. More than 100 people were killed in the violence.

In March, days after the People's Democratic Party's (PDP) Mufti Mohammad Sayeed took charge as chief minister in partnership with BJP, Alam was released controversially from Baramulla jail.

Masarat Alam had organized the current separatist rally in Srinagar to welcome Hurriyat Conference hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani back to the Valley after several months in Delhi.

During the protest, Alam's supporters marched through the city and waved Pakistani flags in front of the Director General of Police office.

"It is absolutely condemnable. No one has right to raise pro-Pakistani slogans in this country. Those who have done it have violated the law of the country. I am sure the state government will act in the strictest possible manner against Masarat Alam and his supporters," said the BJP's Sambit Patra.

Earlier, Masrat Alam's release from prison had left the BJP government red-faced and had become a raging focal point of conflict in its tense partnership with the PDP in Jammu and Kashmir.