Indian police said that a top Kashmiri separatist leader has been arrested for leading an anti-India protest march and raising pro-Pakistan slogans earlier in the week.
Police officer K. Rajendra said Masarat Alam was arrested Friday under India’s unlawful activities act. He said police put two other separatist leaders, Syed Ali Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, under house arrest to prevent them from leading a planned march Friday to protest the killing of a militant commander’s brother in India-held Kashmir (IHK).
The Indian army said the man was killed in a gun battle along with another militant on Monday, while his relatives and angry locals said he was tortured to death.
The chief minister of Indian-held Kashmir (IHK), Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, termed the waving of Pakistani flag at a Hurriyat rally as ‘unacceptable’, saying “it was illegal and could not be tolerated”, according to reports by Indian media.
Masarat Alam, a likely successor to Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, had organised a rally in the restive summer capital of Indian-held Kashmir. The rally, which was attended by thousands, was held as a show of strength to welcome Geelani on his return from New Delhi.
PROTESTS ERUPT:
Demonstrators set fire to an Indian flag and hurled rocks at riot police in Srinagar on Friday, as protests over the arrest of the separatist leader turned violent.
Hundreds took to the streets of Srinagar to vent their anger at Masarat Alam’s detention.
The violence erupted soon after worshippers emerged from Friday prayer services in the city’s mosques, chanting pro-Pakistan slogans and “we want freedom”..
The police tried to disperse the crowds by firing tear gas and then wielding their batons.
At least 16 people were injured during the clashes, including three policemen, an officer who was not authorised to speak to the media told AFP on condition of anonymity.
“He [Alam] has been arrested after a case for unlawful activity was registered against him,” K. Rajendra, the state’s director general of police, told AFP.