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Azhar Qadri
Tribune News Service
Srinagar, April 25
The Kashmir valley observed a shutdown on Saturday to protest the administrative detention of hardline separatist leader Masarat Alam, who has been booked under the Public Safety Act.
The businesses in the region remained closed and public transport system was paralysed in response to the shutdown called by the hardline faction of the Hurriyat Conference headed by Syed Ali Shah Geelani.
Inter-district and intra-district transport system was also impacted by the shutdown.
The shutdown also led to closure of markets across the region, including the Lal Chowk and its adjoining localities here, which serve as the commercial nerve centre of the summer capital.
Protesters also had minor clashes with the police at few places in Sopore and Palhalan townships of north Kashmir.
Masarat, who is a part of the hardline separatist amalgam, was arrested last week on multiple charges including the non-bailable section 13 of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, advocating and abetting commission of any unlawful activity, and 120-B of RPC, being party to a criminal conspiracy. He was later also booked on charges of sedition.
The separatist leader was arrested for raising pro-Pakistan slogans and raising Pakistani flag at a rally held to welcome Geelani on his return from New Delhi.
Later, the state government booked Masarat under PSA, which authorises his detention without trial for a maximum of two years. He has been lodged at the Kot Bhalwal Jail in Jammu.
Masarat’s detention, which ended his 42-day release from a previous spell of lengthy detention under the PSA, has been widely criticised by the separatist groups.
Geelani, who had called for the shutdown today, had said Masarat’s detention exposed Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s slogan of battling separatists on a political front.
The hardline separatist group in a statement said the shutdown against Masarat’s detention should serve as an “eye opener” for the state’s PDP-BJP government.
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