Police Arrest Sarjan Barkati Alias ‘Freedom Chacha’, Slapped with PSA

Srinagar: Police on Saturday arrested Ummat-e-Islami senior leader Moulana Sarjan Barkati at Wanpoh while he was on way to Arwani.

Barkati is a popular Muslim cleric from Shopian district and a senior leader of Ummat-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmir, headed by Mirwaiz Qazi Yasir.

Barkati was immediately booked under notorious Public Safety Act (PSA), a statement issued by Ummat-e-Islami said this evening.

Barkati was instrumental in organizing public rallies across South Kashmir in the on-going civilian uprising. He popularized “new forms of anti-India sloganeering” that went viral across Kashmir. Since his peculiar way of sloganeering, he is popular among youth as “Freedom Chacha”.

Police had been conducting raids on Barkati’s house in Shopian. “The police have also ceased his property and threatened the inmates including his six year old son, Azaan Barkati,” the statement said.

The incarcerated Chairperson of Ummat-e-Islami Mirwaiz Qazi Yasir strongly condemned his arrest.

A spokesperson quoted Mirwaiz Yasir saying: “The on-going rant of war in India is only to divert attention from the grave human rights violations and the on-going civilian uprising in Kashmir that has made state government to resort to such tactics like mass arrest of people and slapping draconian Public Safety Act on them.”