Separatist Leader Masarat Alam Re-arrested Moments After Release

Masarat Alam, a Kashmiri separatist leader, has been rearrested by the CID and has been taken for questioning.

File photo of separatist leader Masrat Alam at his home in Srinagar. (Photo: PTI)

Hardline separatist leader Masarat Alam was re-arrested on Tuesday, soon after his release from the high security Kotbalwal jail in Jammu. He was incarcerated at Kotbalwal jail since April 17 for waving Pakistani flags and chanting anti-national slogans during a separatist rally in Srinagar.

Last month, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court had quashed Alam’s detention under the Public Safety Act (PSA) and ordered the government to release him.

“Masarat Alam has been re-arrested after his release from jail here today”, a senior government official told PTI. He has been arrested by the CID wing of the state police and taken for questioning, the official said.

Alam had also been detained for four years in connection with the 2010 summer agitation in the Valley and was released in March this year.

His release had created a furore across the country and the issue had even figured in the Parliament proceedings, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi making a statement on the floor of the House.