Masarat Alam Bhat

Masarat Alam Bhat
Chairman of All Parties Hurriyat Conference (Geelani faction)
Interim
Assumed office
7 September 2021[1][2]
Preceded bySyed Ali Shah Geelani
In office
7 September 2003[3] – 15 September 2003[4]
Preceded byposition established
Succeeded bySyed Ali Shah Geelani
Personal details
Born
Masarat Alam Bhat

July 1971
Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India[5]
Political partyHurriyat (Geelani faction)
Jammu Kashmir Muslim League
Other political
affiliations		Tehreek-e-Hurriyat
Jamaat-e-Islami Kashmir
Alma materUniversity of Kashmir
Occupation
Websitewww.thjk.org

Masarat Alam Bhat (born 1971) is a Kashmiri Islamist activist and a political separatist leader of Jammu and Kashmir. He is currently serving as the chairman of the Jammu Kashmir Muslim League, and also serves as the interim chairman of Geelani faction of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference.

Bhat was appointed as the interim chairman of the Geelani faction of Hurriyat after the death of Syed Ali Shah Geelani. He played a significant role in the 2010 Kashmir stone pelting rallies which broke out against the Machil fake encounter carried out by the Indian Army in Kashmir. Government has booked Masrat Alam in 27 criminal cases but in most of these he has either been exonerated or bailed out by the courts and was released after Mufti Mohammad Sayeed took over as the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir on 1 March 2015.[6]

Bhat was detained under the controversial Public Safety Act and was in March 2015 released which caused a major political controversy and dominated Indian Parliament Proceedings.[7] Amid speculations over his release Masrat Aalam said that no deal was made between him and the Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, saying "I spent more than four years in prison and during all these years I challenged the grounds of my 'illegal' detention".[8][9][10][11] He has been jailed for 17 years and has around 27 cases against him.[12][13]

  1. ^ "Masarat Alam is new chairman of Hurriyat Conference | Free Press Kashmir". freepresskashmir.news. 7 September 2021. Retrieved 17 October 2021.
  2. ^ Bashaarat Masood (8 September 2021). "Masarat Alam succeeds Geelani as Hurriyat chairman". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 4 February 2023. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  3. ^ Bashaarat Mashood (5 September 2021). "Explained: Hurriyat at a crossroads". The Indian Express. Retrieved 7 February 2023.
  4. ^ "Geelani heads breakaway Hurriyat group". The Tribune. 15 September 2003. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Praveen was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ "Masarat Alam Bhat: 'A stone thrower since childhood". The Times of India. 10 March 2015. Retrieved 10 March 2015.
  7. ^ "Mufti Mohammad Sayeed releases Muslim League leader Masarat Alam from jail, draws flak". Naseer Ganai. India Today. 8 March 2015. Retrieved 10 March 2015.
  8. ^ "No deal between me and Mufti, Bukhari's revelations expose Omar's mindset, says Masarat Alam - Only Kashmir - Behind the News". Archived from the original on 20 February 2016. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  9. ^ "BJP leaders meet Kashmir chief over Masarat Alam release row". Business Standard India. Business Standard. 10 March 2015. Retrieved 10 March 2015.
  10. ^ "Hurriyat hardliner Masarat Alam's release rocks House: PM Modi makes his anger known". Indian Express. 10 March 2015. Retrieved 10 March 2015.
  11. ^ "How Masarat Alam Bhat transformed from a posh schoolboy to Kashmir's "most wanted" separatist". Quartez. 10 March 2015. Retrieved 10 March 2015.
  12. ^ "Masarat Alam Bhat spent 17 years in jail, has 27 FIRs against him". Dna. 10 March 2015. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  13. ^ "Masarat set to be ISI's poster boy in valley". The Sunday Guardian. 14 March 2015. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 17 April 2015.