Masarat Alam arrest: PDP denies acting under pressure

The People's Democratic Party (PDP) on Friday said separatist leader Masarat Alam had been arrested under procedure and not due to the pressure reportedly brought on it by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh or Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.

"Masarat Alam is not arrested under pressure, he has been arrested under procedure. There are charges filed against him in the Badgaon police station," PDP spokesperson Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra told ANI here.

"The law is taking its own course, this is nothing to do with the politics, or from the Home Minister's pressure or the Chief Minister's pressure," he added.

"We are here to give them space in a democratic way, not if they try to instigate trouble, or try to create an anti-peace situation at the time when the tourist season is at its peak," he further said.

Parra described the hoisting of the Pakistani flag as unjustifiable and added that Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed went on record to say that this is not allowed.

Earlier in the day, as a preventive measure to maintain law and order, Alam and another separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani were placed under house arrest by the Jammu and Kashmir Police.

The state government also denied permission for today's proposed congregation in Tral, with Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed reportedly instructing the police to refuse permission for the rally.

The rally was scheduled to begin from Srinagar to Tral where a youth was killed allegedly by the army while he was in their custody.

Alam is the chairman of Muslim League, a constituent of hardline Hurriyat Conference led by Geelani and is widely seen as the latter's heir apparent.

He had been convicted for organizing anti-India protests resulting in the death of 112 people in stone pelting across the Valley in 2010.