Senior Hurriyat
Conference Leaders Arrested, Yasin Malik Re-arrested
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Some
Hurriyat Conference leaders (L to R): Molvi Abbas Ansari, Javed
Mir, Prof. Bhat and Mirwaiz Farooq
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By
Zafarul-Islam Khan, IOL South Asia Correspondent
NEW
DELHI, July 20 (IslamOnline) - Fifteen Kashmiri separatist leaders
were arrested Saturday, July 20, for "unlawful assembly", as
they attempted to take out a procession from Lal Chowk in Srinagar
city center in violation of prohibitory orders in Jammu and Kashmir,
police sources said in Srinagar.
Hurriyat
Conference is a conglomerate of Kashmiri secessionist organizations.
It is thought to be the political platform of the militant
organizations.
The
Hurriyat Conference leaders were protesting against the Qasimnagar
massacre in Jammu, in which 29 people were killed. The protest
reportedly turned violent and the police had to use tear gas shells to
disperse the crowds.
Arrests
included Hurriyat Conference chairman Abdul Ghani Bhat, Jammu &
Kashmir Liberation Front acting chief, Javed Ahmed Mir, prominent Shia
leader Moulvi Abbas Ansari, People's Conference chairman Bilal Ghani
Lone and Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party (JKDFP) leader
Saleem Geelani in addition to a dozen other activists.
Hurriyat
chairman Prof. Abdul Ghani Bhat said senior leaders of the Hurriyat
Conference, including Awami Action Committee charirman Mirwaiz Omar
Farooq, were placed under house arrest early Saturday to prevent them
from participating in the "peace march" organized to protest
the alleged atrocities and human rights violations by security forces
in the state.
Prof.
Bhat alleged that Mir and Lone were beaten up before being taken into
custody. Police officials denied that any other Hurriyat executive
members were put under house arrest.
A
JKDFP spokesman claimed party chief Hashim Qureshi was also put under
house arrest Saturday morning.
"Some
activists of the party raised slogans and forced their way out. Police
burst teargas shells and arrested four workers of the party," he
said.
In
another startling development, Hurriyat Conference leader and chief of
JKLF Yasin Malik was granted bail by a special court in Jammu today,
but he was re-arrested minutes later under Kashmir's draconian Public
Safety Act, which has been traditionally used to silence political
opponents.
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JKLF
leader Yasin Malik
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Under
this Act, Malik could be kept in jail for a period of two years and
could even be shifted out of the state although a recent law passed by
the state legislative assembly expressly prohibits incarceration of
permanent residents of Kashmir outside the state.
Besides
Yasin Malik, the other Hurriyat Conference executive committee members
in jails at present are Jamaat Islami Kashmir leader Syed Ali Shah
Geelani and People's League chief Sheikh Aziz. Both are booked under
the Public Safety Act.
Leaders
arrested today may be released shortly unless the government wants to
keep them too away from political life until elections are held next
October.
Hurriyat
Conference has been boycotting elections after the widespread rigging
of elections in 1987, which led to the eruption of militancy. Ever
since, it has been urging the people not to vote. As a result, the
authorities had to resort to force to bring people to election booths.
Yasin
Malik has been in jail since March 23 after he was arrested under the
new anti-terrorism law, POTA, for alleged involvement with money
laundering which his supporters claim was concocted by the authorities
in order to arrest him.
Hurriyat
leaders have been complaining that Malik's health is failing. He is a
heart patient and suffers from torture during previous detention
periods. 
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