Incarcerated Masarat Alam is new Hurriyat chairman | Latest News India - Hindustan Times
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Incarcerated Masarat Alam is new Hurriyat chairman

By, Hindustan Times, Srinagar
Sep 08, 2021 01:54 AM IST

Six days after the death of separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani, his close aide Masarat Alam Bhat, who is in jail, has been appointed as the chairman of hard-line All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), according to a press release apparently issued by the party

Six days after the death of separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani, his close aide Masarat Alam Bhat, who is in jail, has been appointed as the chairman of hard-line All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), according to a press release apparently issued by the party.

Separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani’s close aide Masarat Alam Bhat. (HT File)
Separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani’s close aide Masarat Alam Bhat. (HT File)

The APHC statement, which was mailed to some media outlets and was being circulated on the social media, read that the party had held a meeting in Srinagar during which, the decision was taken. The statement could not be independently verified.

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It said that a “consultative exercise was conducted with the members of the executive council of the APHC using different mediums to avoid arrests and Indian counter strategy”.

“Masarat Alam Bhat has been elected as the next chairman of APHC. Shabir Ahmad Shah and Ghulam Ahmad Gulzar, both, elected as vice-chairmen,” the statement read.

The statement said Gulzar will continue running the affairs of APHC with “regular guidelines” from the chairman.

The APHC was apparently headless since June 29, 2020 when Geelani, its lifetime chairman, had announced his separation from the amalgam 17 years after he had launched the organisation. He had accused Hurriyat members of inaction after the revocation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019.

Alam, the 49-year-old firebrand Hurriyat leader and Muslim League chairman, is currently in Tihar Jail since June 2019 in a case filed by National Investigation Agency under alleged terror funding. Shabir Shah is also in jail.

Alam has been in jail for most of the time since his arrest in October 2010 following his alleged role in the mass public agitation that year. Alam continued to be in prison as authorities booked him in one case after the other under PSA, even though the court quashed his detention multiple times.

He has 27 FIRs registered against him and has been booked under the public safety act (PSA) atleast 36 times, according to local media reports.

He was released after more than four years in March 2015 triggering backlash against ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party which was then in coalition with Bharatiya Janata Party.

The then state government arrested Alam again on April 17, 2015 on the charges of ‘sedition’ and ‘waging war against the state’ after he allegedly raised pro-Pakistan slogans in a rally, orgainsed to welcome Syed Ali Geelani in Srinagar. He was subsequently booked under public safety act.

When alive, Geelani would often accuse the state government of vengeance for “prolonged and unlawful” detention of Masarat Aalam.

The young separatist leader has been instrumental in framing marathon strike calendars in 2010 when over 120 youth were killed in security forces action to control spiraling anti-India protests on the streets on Kashmir.

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