Security our priority, not alliance in J&K: Rajnath on separatist's release

Amid the raging controversy over release of a Kashmiri separatist leader, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday asserted that his government's top priority was national security and not the continuance of the government in the state where the Bharatiya Janata Party is an alliance partner.

His remarks come a day after the prime minister made it clear in Parliament that release of separatist leader Masarat Alam was not acceptable and that the government won't tolerate any compromise with the nation's integrity.

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"My government will not compromise with national security at any cost. For us any government, whether in alliance or not, that is not our priority. Our priority is country and its security. You should understand this intention of ours.”

"I will only make only one statement as of now, as I had said in Parliament yesterday (Monday). For us, the government is not the priority but for us country is priority and it is topmost," he said.

"You should understand this fact and I think everything is encapsulated in this statement," Singh said on the sidelines of the 46th Raising Day of central security force CISF in Ghaziabad.

Singh maintained that he was not satisfied with the official version that the state government sent to his ministry earlier on this subject. "I will not say anything now. As I said in Parliament, I am not fully satisfied with the version of the Jammu and Kashmir government on this issue. I have sought some information...clarifications on the issue from the state government and only after getting something from there, I will comment," he told reporters here. He also dismissed reports that Mufti had talked to him on the subject.

"I have not talked to the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir (Mufti Mohammad Sayeed) in the last about three years or so...      not before oath or after that," he said.

Members in both Lok Sabha and Rajya have expressed "outrage" over the release of the separatist leader, calling the development as "anti-national" and dangerous to the country's integrity. They have also dared the BJP to pull out of the Mufti Mohammad Sayeed-led government on the issue.

Image: Home Minister Rajnath Singh