JeI leader, his son arrested in South Kashmir

Srinagar: Jammu Kashmir Police have booked Jama’at-e-Islami and a Tehreek-e-Hurriyat leaders under contentious Public Safety Act.
Reports said that after being arrested by police on Thursday, Jamat-e-Islami District President for Srinagar Bashir Ahmed Lone was booked under PSA and shifted to Kot Bhalwal Jail.
Tehreek-e-Hurriyat leader Muhammad Rafiq Shah who was released from Tihar Jail after 12 years in 2017 has also been booked under draconian PSA.
A police official wishing anonymity said that Lone had been arrested and booked under PSA for his hate speech at the funeral of Assistant Professor Dr Rafi’s funeral. Rafi was one among five Hizb militants killed in Badigam Shopian encounter last Sunday.
Eyewitnesses who were present at the funeral have however trashed the claims of police that Lone resorted to hate speech. Witnesses said that Lone pitched for discipline during the funeral and kept those miscreants at bay who tried to wrap the body of slain Professor in ISIS flag. Lone even described ISIS a terrorist organization and asked people to beware of those elements who try to propagate the ideology of ISIS in Kashmir.
A video clip which is making rounds on the social media, Lone is heard arguing that the groups like “ISIS have no place in Kashmir”.
Meanwhile, police in a raid at Urnhal village of South Kashmir’s Anantnag district arrested a top Jamat-e-Islami leader Gulzar Ahmed Bhat and his son Aqib Ahmed. Bhat is Tehsil President Anantnag.