Hurriyat leaders are not separatists: Supreme Court

Observing that Hurriyat Conference leaders are not terrorists, the Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to entertain a PIL for stopping official funds to separatists/terrorists and their organisations in Jammu and Kashmir.

A Bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra and U.U. Lalit told petitioner Manohar Lal Sharma it was he who was calling the beneficiaries as separatists, not the government, when the petitioner pleaded for stopping funds and registration of cases against separatists.

Dismissing the PIL, the Bench said, “We are of the considered opinion that the grant of funds to state of Jammu and Kashmir for the purposes of security or otherwise is within the exclusive domain of the Central government. In a matter like this, we are of the considered opinion that a public interest litigation does not deserve to be entertained and, therefore, we are not inclined to interfere. That apart, needless to emphasise, it is not a judicially manageable proceeding and the court should refrain from entering into the said area.”

Mr Sharma had questioned the state and Central governments spending huge amounts on separatists by meeting their travel and medical expenses and providing security cover to them. He had sought criminal proceedings against authorities for promoting terrorism and under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

He had pleaded for a CBI probe into the reported release of Rs 950 crore to such anti-national persons by the Centre and the state government in the past five years. The government spent Rs 21 crore on their stay in luxury hotels and Rs 26.43 crore on their travel, he said.

The Bench told the petitioner that it is the Centre and the Army, and not the Supreme Court, are the best judges to decide matters of national security and threat perceptions to the country. It said “what is to be done for the security of the nation is best left to the Executive and the Army. Let it be noted that in issues like these courts have a minimum role. These are nationally sensitive issues, for they belong to the arena of the security of the nation”.

The Bench took exception to the petitioner using the term “terrorists” to describe the various groups in Jammu and Kashmir. “Unless somebody is arrested or convicted for a terror offence, you cannot brand them terrorists. We will not tolerate that in this court,” the Bench told M. Sharma rejecting his PIL.