SRINAGAR: The Chairman of the Hurriyat Conference, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, and Musarrat Alam were put under house arrest ahead of their rally in the Tral town of Pulwama district on Friday, reported the Indian media. “Geelani has been placed under house arrest. A posse of policemen has been deployed outside the chairman’s house at Hyderpora as a preventive measure to maintain law and order,” a police officer said, adding that a similar restriction had been slapped on Alam. Coming under attack from all quarters, including the PDP ally BJP, on Wednesday’s rally by the pro-freedom Hurriyat leaders in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed denied permission for the congregation even as he said waving of Pakistani flags and raising pro-Pak slogans was “not acceptable” and “will not be tolerated”. Hours after the rally on Wednesday, Sayeed had received a phone call from Home Minister Rajnath Singh asking him to take “immediate and stringent” action against the law-breakers.“We will not tolerate anyone raising slogans like ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ on the Indian soil. There can be no compromise on national security. Politics cannot impinge on nationalThe Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) Thursday condemned remarks made by Pakistan’s Foreign Office that India was using ‘excessive force’ against the Hurriyat leaders in Jammu and Kashmir and advised the country to ‘stay in its limits.’ BJP National Secretary Shrikant Sharma said: “The statement is very unfortunate and the BJP condemns it. Jammu and Kashmir is a part of India. Pakistan should stay in its limits and it should not interfere in the internal matters of India.” Sharma told ANI.
