Geelani calls for shutdown on Saturday
Srinagar: The state government today booked Hurriyat G leader Masarat Alam under the Public Safety Act (PSA) and shifted him to a jail outside the Valley.
” PSA warrants were issued against Masarat Alam on Wednesday and the warrants were executed today, a police officer said adding he was being shifted for detention to a jail outside the Valley.
The PSA allows detention of a person for a minimum of six months without trial.
In quick reaction to the fresh PSA on Alam, Hurriyat (G) chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani called for a complete shutdown in Kashmir on April 25.
According to a statement issued to press this afternoon, Geelani appealed people to hold protest demonstration after Friday prayers and observe a shutdown on Saturday against Alams detention.
Alam, a close confidante of Geelani was released on March 7 triggered a political storm in the country, threatening almost the collapse of the fledgling coalition between PDP and BJP. Alam had been arrested during the 2010 summer unrest in the Valley.
Giving reasons for his release the state government had said that Alam’s period of detention under the PSA had already expired and there had been no fresh grounds for his detention.
Alam was a prominent part of the 2008 Amarnath land row agitation. But he shot to fame through the five month long 2010 unrest which he is believed to have organized by creating well-knit networks of the stone-throwing youth and issuing weeklong protest calendars. However, Alam was arrested midway through the strife, a development which did little to quell the protests which by then had peaked and spread through the Valley.
As many as 120 people died in violent clashes between the security forces and unruly protesters during 2010 summer unrest.
Officials believed Alam had been the mastermind behind 2010 agitation. He was arrested after announcing a reward of Rs1 million to anybody divulging information about his whereabouts.
On April 15, youth displayed Pakistan flags and shouted Pro-Pakistan slogans in a separatist rally led by Masrat Alam in Srinagar city to welcome Syed Ali Geelani.
Police arrested Alam on April 17 for sedition and waging war against the state.
Alam’s lawyer had filed a bail application in the chief judicial magistrate (CJM) court in central Badgam district Thursday.
Alam had been remanded into police custody by the CJM for seven days. The period of his remand would end on Saturday.
Police today said he has been sent to Kotbalwal jail in Jammu after being shifted from Srinagar during the night. He had applied for bail before Chief Judicial Magistrate Budgam, which heard the arguments of the prosecution and the petitioner’s counsel yesterday. The court has reserved its orders on the bail plea till Saturday.
Police had registered a case against Bhat, Syed Ali Shah Geelani and several other separatist leaders under Sections 121-A (waging war against the country), 124 (Sedition), 120-B (Criminal Conspiracy), 147 (rioting) of Ranbir Penal Code (RPC) among others. Bhat is the only one to have been arrested so far in the matter.ogging site.
Meanwhile all Azadi groups comprising Hurriyat factions and JKLF have condemned the slapping of fresh PSA on Alam.
Condeming the act, Awami Etihad leader Engineer Rashid said PSA on Alam proved that New Delhi doesnt want any dialogue with Kashmiris. In a press statement Rashid said that the slapping PSA on Alam has exposed PDPs hollow claims that it wants a battle of ideas in Kashmir.
By reducing space for political activities Government of India is widening the scope and option for Kashmiri youth joining arms struggle for the resolution of Kashmir issue, Rashid said adding
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Single Column with Lead
Govt goaded by jingoistic media: CCS
Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society has slammed the state government for the fresh Public Safety Act on Alam terming it an exercise in bypassing the judicial process. The civil liberties group said the state group has acted under pressure from fascist groups and jingoistic media who earlier ensured hanging of Mohammad Afzal Guru for satisfying collective conscience of Indian people.
Now Masarat Alam too is being victimized to address the same collective conscience of Indian people, a statement issued by the CCS said. By this preventive detention order the government has bypassed the judicial process and undermined its own institutions.
Masarat Alam Bhat, the CCS said,, has spent more than seventeen years in prisons in last 25 years under various PSA orders. This PSA order is against the Indian Supreme Court decision of 22 March 2013 that mandated, any fresh PSA order against him would not come into force for a week from the date of communication of the order to enable him to pursue appropriate legal remedies, the statement said. Further, the transfer of Masarat Alam to Jammu under this PSA order comes two days before his bail hearing in a FIR where he has been charged for sedition and waging of war for being part of a peaceful procession.
The CCS statement said that neither the sloganeering in the procession nor the raising of the Pakistani flag would be considered criminal even under Indian law. The FIR, arrest, and PSA order are all bad in law, and against the decisions of the Indian Supreme Court, and the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, the statement said.
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