Geelani and Masarat Alam Under House Arrested ahead of his visit to Tral
Geelani had called for a march tomorrow to Tral in south Kashmir, which has seen tension and protests over the death of a young man allegedly in an encounter with the Army. The state police said tonight that Mr Geelani will not be allowed to visit Tral tomorrow.
t was to welcome Mr Geelani to the Valley after three months in Delhi that Masarat Alam had called the rally where Pakistani flags were waved and pro-Pakistan slogans raised on Wednesday. Amid nation-wide outrage, a case was registered and this morning, Union Home Minister Rajnath called up Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and demanded "immediate stringent action".
Mr Sayeed said, "Democracy is a battle of ideas, they are free to have their own way, speak their mind. But something which is not acceptable, is not, will not be tolerated."
Hurriyat (G) spokesman said in a statement that, late this evening police party reached Geelani’s Hyderpora residence and placed him under house arrest ahead of Tral chalo call on Thursday where he was scheduled to address the people.
“The huge deployment of police personals has been made around the residence of Geelani and a police vehicle stands blocking the main entrance gate of the pro-freedom leader”, he said.
The spokesman further said that police officials informed Geelani about his house arrest and said that he can’t move out from his house.
“Hurriyat Conference has strongly condemned the action on part of the state administration and police and said that these actions further expose the fake pro-Kashmir stance of Mufti Sayed”, the spokesman added.
