Arrest Syed Ali Shah Geelani under Public Safety Act: BJP

The BJP, coalition partner of ruling PDP government in the Jammu and Kashmir, on Saturday demanded arrest of hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani under the stringent Public Safety Act for waving of Pakistani flags at his rally in Tral area.

"Geelani too need to be arrested immediately under PSA as was done last month against Masrat Alam," BJP state chief spokesperson Sunil Sethi told reporters in Jammu on Saturday. "There is no difference between Masarat Alam and Sayeed Ali Shah Geelani, both are the separatist leaders who are hell bent on disturbing the peaceful atmosphere in the Valley by organizing such type of events," Sethi said.

The rally held on Friday in Tral in South Kashmir, which was the first in seven years by the separatist leader in the militancy-infested township, witnessed pro-Pakistan sloganeering and waving of Pakistani flags.
He also demanded strict action against the separatist leader for raking up the Amarnath Yatra issue.

"While we strongly condemn the statement of separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani for raising the issue of Amaranth Yatra asking to curtail it to one month, we demand that the government must take immediate action against this separatist leader" Sethi said He said that the separatist leaders like Geelani, after having failed to get any public support in Kashmir Valley, were now making attempts to disturb the peaceful atmosphere in the Valley by interfering in the religious issues like Amarnath Yatra "to remain in limelight".

The separatists were raising the issue of Amarnath Yatra "under a deep rooted conspiracy" as they want to disturb the communal harmony in the state. "But BJP will never allow them to succeed in their nefarious designs," Sethi said.

He said the decision about the duration of Amarnath Yatra is taken by the Shrine Board, which is an autonomous body and no one has any right to interfere. Sethi said that the Annual yatra of Amarnath was directly linked to the economy of the Kashmir. "The economy of Kashmir is linked to this Yatra, lakhs of people in the valley are directly benefited by the inflow of Yatris," he said. 

Shiv Sena too demanded the arrest of separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, and asked the state government to send him to Pakistan on exile.

Terming Geelani as an anti-national who would further fuel militancy in Jammu and Kashmir, activists of Dogra Front and Shiv Sena took out a procession in Jammu and burned a Pakistani flag and an effigy of the separatist leader.

"Why is the government of Jammu and Kashmir not sending Syed Ali Shah Geelani to Pakistan on an exile from India? His only work is to chant pro-Pakistan slogans, wave Pakistan flag and disrupt the peace in the Valley and bring turmoil in Kashmir," state president of Shiv Sena and Dogra Front Ashok Gupta said.

"If he loves Pakistan so much that he waves Pakistan flags in Kashmir and challenge the duration of Amarnath Yatra, then he must be sent to that country," he said.

Accusing the BJP-PDP coalition government of being soft on anti-national elements, Gupta said, "The coalition government has been a complete failure as in less than one month this is the second time that the Pakistan flag has been waved on Indian land which is a very serious crime under the state law."

Gupta said the government has been a mute spectator and questioned the government on granting of permission to the separatists for holding of the rally. "When they were aware of what happened in a similar rally, then why did they give permission for another such rally?" he asked.