Srinagar: Kashmiri separatist Masarat Alam, who was arrested last week for leading a rally in Srinagar where Pakistani flags were waved, has been charged under a law that will allow the state to keep him in jail for two years without trial.
Alam has been booked under the Public Safety Act.
Last week, the 45-year-old led a rally in Srinagar, where his supporters waved Pakistani flags and raised slogans. Amid outrage, the Centre ordered the Jammu and Kashmir government, led by its ally PDP or People’s Democratic Party, to take “immediate and stringent” action.
Alam was earlier booked for sedition and waging war against the country. He had organized the rally to welcome his ideological mentor Syed Ali Shah Geelani.
Alam is accused of organising stone-throwing protests in the Valley in 2010, during which more than 100 people died in police firing. His release became a flashpoint in the alliance between the PDP and BJP, which had struggled to bridge an ideological divide.
