KL Report
Srinagar
With senior separatist leaders continuing under house arrest and some lodged in different jails across valley, the authorities Saturday launched a massive crack down on Mutahida Majlise Mashavrat (MMM) apart from second rung leaders of separatist and religious organizations.
Just ahead of issuing of fresh protest calendar for the next week by the MMM, police has arrested many leaders after raiding their residences in past 48 hours.
Jamaat e Islami spokesman Advocate Zahid Ali was apprehended by police at his residence last night and has been lodged at police station Pulwama, sources said. They said police has also arrested Dukhtaran e Millat’s Fehmeeda Sofi apart from other leaders including Muhammad Yousuf Naqash, Gh Nabi Zaki and G M Nagoo.
Police has also raided residences of JKLF acting Chairman Bashir Ahmad Butt and Abdul Ahad Parra, the sources added.
Chairmen of both factions of the Hurriyat Conference – Syed Ali Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq – continue to remain under detention at their respective residences.
Senior Hurriyat leaders like Shabir Ahmad Shah, Nayeem Khan, Agha Syed Hassan Al Moosvi, Mukhtar Ahmad Waza are still in the police lockups whereas another leading Hurriyat leader GN Zaki has been shifted to sub district jail Baramulla, a Hurriyat spokesman said.
Meanwhile, a senior police official said the crack down on the separatist leaders will continue in the coming days. “We can’t allow a free hand to those trying to disturb peace”, he said while wishing not to be named.
Various separatist, religious and civil society organizations have denounced the arrest spree of the separatist leaders apart from arrest spree against youth across the valley. Hurriyat Conference (M), Democratic Freedome Party and other organizations called the arrest high handedness on part of authorities and claimed that such tactics wont deter people or leaders
