Rajnath speaks to Mufti, asks J-K govt to take strict action

The Centre has asked Jammu and Kashmir Government to take strictest possible steps against those involved in anti-national actions during a rally by hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani on Wednesday on the outskirts of Srinagar.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh spoke to Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed last night and made it clear that the issue of national security cannot be compromised. The Chief Minister briefed Singh about what happened at the rally and the situation there, official sources said. Singh told Sayeed that any step which can be termed as anti-national cannot be tolerated, they said. The Home Minister directed that strictest possible action should be taken against those involved in it.  After a gap of five years, Jammu and Kashmir Government yesterday allowed Geelani to hold the rally where his supporters including Masarat Alam, released from jail last month, raised pro-Pakistan slogans and others waved Pakistani flags.

Alam, who was released soon after PDP-BJP government came to power in the state, led the march from the Srinagar Airport to Geelani's residence at Hyderpora. This was Geelani's first public rally after the 2010 summer agitation in Srinagar in which over 100 youths were killed. Alam was a key player in the entire agitation and used to issue a weekly schedule for strikes. Besides the Hurriyat flags, some supporters were also seen carrying Pakistani flags as they chanted pro-Pakistan and pro-freedom slogans.