Srinagar: Tehreek-e-Hurriyat Chairman Ashraf Sehrai Arrested, Booked Under PSA

Separatist Kashmiri leader has been under house arrest since August 5, 2019, and was detained by police from his residence on Sunday morning.

Srinagar: Separatist leader and Tehreek-e-Hurriyat Chairman Mohammad Ashraf Sehrai was arrested on Sunday by the police from his residence at Baghaat Barzulla in Srinagar.

Official sources said that a police party arrested the elderly leader at around 5:30 am, and was shifted to Police station.

 A senior police officer confirmed that said Sehrai has been booked under Public Safety Act (PSA).

Under the PSA, a person can be detained without trial for three months and the detention can be extended upto two years.

Sehrai has been under house arrest since August 5, when centre scrapped J&K’s special status and bifurcated the erstwhile state into two Union Territories – Jammu and Kashmir (with legislature) and Ladakh (without legislature).

Sehrai is the chairman of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat, a constituent of All Parties Hurriyat Conference which was until recently headed by Syed Ali Geelani.

Sehrai is believed to be eyeing heading the Geelani-led Hurriyat Conference, a conglomerate of 26 separatist parties.

Sehrai’s son, Junaid who was district commander of Hizbul Mujahideen, was recently killed in an encounter with state forces in the Nawakadal area of downtown Srinagar.