Massarat Alam Butt, an emerging icon of the Kashmiri separatist camp who is believed to have “masterminded” many of the eruptions witnessed in the Valley over the past four months was arrested by the police here on Monday.
Inspector-general of police (Kashmir range) S.M. Sahai said Alam was arrested in a raid on a private house at Telbal, on the outbursts of Srinagar, apparently on a tip-off. Mr Alam, a close associate of influential octogenarian separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani, was taken to an unknown destination for questioning. The authorities termed his arrested a “prize catch”, reiterating that he had played a key role in organising protests in the Valley, especially Srinagar, during the weeks of unrest in which 111 people died in security force firings and other action.
Mr Alam, who heads the Jammu and Kashmir Muslim League, a pro-Pakistan political group and a constituent of the Geelani-led Hurriyat Conference faction, has been in and out of jail. He was released in June after a court here quashed his detention under the state’s tough Public Safety Act.
Curfew was imposed in parts of Srinagar and some other Valley towns on Monday to hold back a “freedom” march called by Mr Geelani. The separatist leader had asked people to march towards Palhalan, on the periphery of Pattan, where several people were killed in security force firings last month following which the area remained under curfew for several weeks. Elsewhere in the Valley, a shutdown paralysed life.
Meanwhile, minutes before senior police officials were scheduled to hold a crucial security meeting at Srinagar’s PCR, an IED was detected nearby and detonated by bomb disposal experts.