Kashmir protests Masarat’s arrest

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, April 24

A day after the state government booked separatist leader Masarat Alam under the Public Safety Act (PSA), authorising his administrative detention for up to a maximum of two years, demonstrations in favour of the separatist leader were held at several places in the region.

The protests were held at several parts of the city, including Habba Kadal, where Masarat lives, and in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district. The demonstrators shouted slogans in favour of Masarat and also demand his immediate release.

Protesters also criticised the state government for booking Masarat under the PSA and termed it as the “worst kind of terrorism”.

Masarat, who was arrested earlier this month for “seditious” pro-Pakistan sloganeering, was yesterday booked under the PSA and sent to the Kot Balwal jail in Jammu. The fresh detention is the seventh PSA order passed against Masarat since his arrest on October 18, 2010.

Another demonstration was held at Narbal in Budgam district, where a teenager was killed in police firing last week. There were reports of minor clashes between protesters and the police at Nowhatta in the old city here and at Narbal, where, eyewitnesses said, the police fired tear smoke shells to disperse the demonstrators.

Meanwhile, the hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani continued to remain under detention at his residence here.