Why wasn't Alam arrested under National Security Act, asks Digvijay

Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Friday sought to know why separatist leader Masarat Alam was not charged under the National Security Act.

"They have much to explain. They first of all need to clarify under what sections they have been arrested. Number one, why house arrest? Why they haven't been sent to the jail, as in, because what they have said and what they have done amounts to waging a war against the nation," Singh said.

"They should be charged under the National Security Act. Why have they not done it?" he added.

Earlier in the day, as a preventive measure to maintain law and order, Alam and another separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani had been put under house arrest. Alam was later arrested by the Jammu and Kashmir police.

The People's Democratic Party (PDP), though, denied that Alam had been arrested under pressure from Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh or Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.

The PDP's alliance partner Bharatiya Janata Party, meanwhile, sought to assert that it follows a principle of zero-tolerance towards terrorism and separatism.