 |
|
Hurriyat Conference chairman Prof. Abdul Ghani Bhat
|
By
Zafarul-Islam Khan, IOL South Asia Correspondent
NEW
DELHI, Sept 6 (IslamOnline) - A day after Kashmiri separatist leader
Shabbir Shah's party decided to boycott Jammu and Kashmir legislative
assembly polls, the authorities in Srinagar Friday, September 06,
2002, placed him and some leaders of the 23-member separatist
conglomerate, Hurriyat Conference, including its chairman Abdul Gani
Bhat, under house arrest.
Sources
said separatist leader Maulana Ahmed Ansari, JKLF leader Javed Mir and
Sajjad Lone of the People's Conference, were also put under house
arrest. Sources said police arrived at the residences of separatist
leaders asking them not to leave their premises.
Shabbir
Shah told the Indian official news agency, PTI, that a police party
arrived at his Rawalpura residence on the outskirts of Srinagar in the
wee hours and ordered him not to leave the premises.
Ansari
also confirmed he had been barred by police from leaving his
residence. A delegation of Hurriyat Conference, led by Prof AG Bhat,
were scheduled to leave for New Delhi to hold talks with Ram
Jethmalani-led Kashmir Committee but the visit has been postponed due
to the new developments. Official sources in Srinagar said Bhat is
free to travel to New Delhi.
|
|
A Hurriyat Conference meeting in Srinagar |
The
reason behind the latest move is to prevent the separatist leaders
from preaching the call to boycott elections. The last few months have
witnessed the imprisonment of some important Kashmiri separatist
leaders like Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Yasin Malik and Shaikh Abdul Aziz.
A few dozen second ring Hurriyat leaders are also behind bars at
present.
Media
sources said that even the Hurriyat headquarters in Srinagar at Raj
Bagh has been surrounded by army and police units. "Nobody is
being allowed to go in or come out", a Hurriyat staffer was
quoted to have said.
Condemning
the move, Bilal Lone of People Conference, who is in Delhi after
surgery, said: "I talked to my brother Sajjad in Srinagar. No
explanations have been given for the house arrest save that orders
came from higher up. It is clear they don't want us to participate in
talks with the Kashmir Committee".
The
police in Srinagar Friday tried to deny Hurriyat Conference's claim
that some of its leaders were placed under house arrest. But Mirwaiz
Oamr Farooq during his Friday sermon in the Grand Mosque of Srinagar
lambasted the state administration for putting Hurriyat leaders under
house arrest.
Kashmir's
main separatist alliance, All Parties Hurriyat Conference, on August
30 launched its anti-poll campaign in the Kashmir valley. On that day
Hurriyat chairman Abdul Ghani Bhat told over 5000-strong prayer
congregation in Sopore that "By holding these elections, India
wants to present this (Kashmir) struggle as India's internal
problem…Kashmir's is not India's internal problem. It is an
international issue," Bhat said, while urging the people of
Kashmir to remain aloof from voting. "It is our humble advice to
people not to associate themselves with these sham elections," he
said.
In
a related development Jammu & Kashmir High Court Wednesday, 5
September, ordered the state government to bring back Syed Ali Shah
Geelani to a J&K jail. The top Kashmiri separatist leader is at
present incarcerated without trial in the Birsa Munda Central Jail in
far off Ranchi in the eastern state of Jharkhand. Geelani and his
son-in-law Altaf Fantoosh were arrested on June 9 this year.
 |
|
Hurriyat Conference headquarter surrounded by security personnel |
The
court ordered the authorities to bring Geelani back within a week. The
purpose behind keeping Geelani and many others like him in remote
areas outside Jammu & Kashmir is to minimize their contact with
the local people and to punish their relatives and lawyers who would
travel for days to reach such places only to spend an hour or two with
the hapless prisoner.
"In
view of the Kashmiri law, all detainees who are permanent residents of
Jammu and Kashmir shall not 'be lodged in jails outside the
state," Justice Muzaffar Jan said in his order. Justice Jan
observed that it was mandatory for the state to lodge all prisoners,
who are permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir, within the state.
In
Delhi, Kashmir Committee chairman and former law minister Ram
Jethmalani said the house arrest of Hurriyat leaders was to scuttle
the peace process and deprive the assembly polls from appearing to be
free and fair.
"The
Kashmir Committee is convinced that this is a calculated move to
scuttle the peace process and deprive the elections of appearing to be
free and fair," Jethmalani said after a meeting of all Committee
members.
|
|
-
Chirac, Putin Hold Firm on Rejecting Bush-Blair ‘Military Plans’ against Iraq
-
Sharon Says, For Israel, Oslo Accords No Longer Exist
-
Hezbollah Slams U.S. Threatened Action against It ‘In Good Time’
-
German Police Arrest Couple in Planned Attack on U.S. Base
-
India Strongly Disapproves U.S. Military Action against Iraq
-
U.S. Military Chemical Depot on Alert Following Intrusion
-
Kashmiri Leaders Arrested to Enhance Democracy
-
U.S. Congress Meets in New York Commemorating Attacks
-
Serb Soldier Tells Milosevic Trial He Had Orders To Massacre Kosovo Civilians
-
100 American, British Jets Attack Iraq: Telegraph
-
Israel Kills 2 Palestinians in Jenin, Fires 5 Missiles At Gaza
-
U.S. Senate Approves Arming Commercial Airline Pilots
A
Year after Sept 11
-
9/11
Brought Muslims, Non-Muslims Closer: Analysts
-
Bush
to Make National Address on Sept 11, Will Lay Wreath At “Ground Zero”
-
Anti-Terror
War Cover Rights Abuses in U.S. & Worldwide
-
Ridge:
No Credible Threats for 9/11, Confident of Homeland Approval
-
ISNA
Convention Calls for Self-Reflection, Activism Among Muslims
-
American
Teaching Unions Argue Over What Children Should Be Told About 9/11
-
Post
9-11 U.S. Foreign Policies Aggressive, Unilateral: U.S. Report
-
Palestine
… Three Massacres in 5 days 
-
Homeless in Minutes
-
War on Iraq.. World Reaction
|
|
|
|
|
|
