Pulwama, Pahalgam attack 'conspiracies by government': Teachers, lawyer among 19 arrested for remarks on terror attack in J&K

At least 19 arrests have been made after inflammatory or anti-India comments made by people across the northeastern states after the Pahalgam attack in Jammu and Kashmir in which 27 tourists were gunned down. Among the dead was a Navy officer and an officer from the Intelligence Bureau.

These arrests have been made form Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura. An MLA, a journalist, students, a lawyer and retired teachers are all who have been arrested for sedition. The maximum number of arrests, 14, have been made in Assam.

Three of the fourteen arrests in Assam was made on Saturday alone from Hajo near Guwahati city, Hailakandi, and Nagaon. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma warned that his government would arrest anyone found directly or indirectly supporting Pakistan under the National Security Act (NSA).

Also Read: Trump says India-Pak tension is '1,500' years old. Only problem is Pakistan didn't exist then

The arrests are largely related to social media posts, where inflammatory or anti-India comments have been made.

The first arrest made on Thursday (April 24) was of an MLA of the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) - an opposition party in Assam. The police after his arrest charged him with sedition  for his statement that the Pulwama attack in 2019 and the Pahalgam attack were "conspiracies by the government". He has been sent to four days of police custody by the court.

“If required, we will impose provisions of the National Security Act on them. We are examining all social media posts, and action will be taken against those who, we feel, are anti-national… There are no similarities between Bharat and Pakistan. The two countries are enemy nations and we must remain that way," CM Sarma said.

Other arrests made from Assam till Friday included Md AK Bahauddin and Md Javed Mazumder from Silchar, Md Jabir Hussain from Hailakandi, Md Mahahar Mia from Morigaon and Md Sahil Ali from Sivasagar. Two more arrests, Md Musta Ahmed alias Sahel from Karimganj was made for posting 'Pakistan Zindabad' on social media platform Facebook