Masarat Alam arrested in Srinagar

The Jammu Kashmir police have arrested Hurriyat Leader Masarat Alam today morning from his home in Srinagar.

Earlier Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Masarat Alam were put under House arrest to prevent them from leading a rally in Tral on Friday.The police had registered a case against Mr.Geelani, Mr.Alam and Peer Saifullah for hoisting a Pakistani flag at a rally on Wednesday in the Budgam police station.

"Alam was arrested on the grounds of provocative actions in a rally on Wednesday" a senior police officer said.

Mr Alam and fellow Hurriyat Leaders were booked under the UAPA (Unlawful activities prevention act) for allegedly raising pro-Pakistani slogans and waiving the country's flag at a rally on Wednesday.

Earlier Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had asked for strictest possible action against those involved in raising pro-Pakistani slogans and hoisting the Pakistani flag with even the J&K chief minister Mufti Sayeed terming the act "intolerable".

Mr. Alam has however claimed to have not hoisted the Pakistani flag himself and told that it was raised by the others in the rally. He had earlier called for "Tral Chalo" rally in protests of the killing of a 24 year old civilian by the army.

"The media and the BJP pressed for the arrest of the separatist leader and they told Mufti Sayeed that they wanted him arrested  following which the State government asked the police to do so" a senior official reported.

Alam was released last month in the BJP-PDP government after an imprisonment of four and half years.The decision of his release had attracted a lot of criticism from the opposition as well as the PDP ally BJP