Jammu and Kashmir separatist leaders Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, Muhammad Yasin Malik arrested for joint march

Separatist leaders Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik have been taken into preventive custody after Jammu and Kashmir Police foiled a joint march by them on Wednesday. They were detained just as they started a march towards the city centre Lal Chowk from the nearby Abi Guzar office of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF). [caption id=“attachment_2270092” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of separatist leader Yasin Malik. AFP[/caption] According to IANS, the two leaders addressed a joint press conference at the JKLF office earlier where Farooq said the continuing harassment of people in south Kashmir by security forces in the name of operations against militants was condemnable. They also voiced concern over the plight of Kashmiris detained in different jails outside the Kashmir Valley. They criticised Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti for saying that some people were first stoking agitations and later lining up for administrative favours. “This statement proves she has no connect with the ground realities,” Farooq said. The separatists have called for a Valley-wide shutdown on 27 November to express solidarity with Kashmiris lodged in prisons. On Tuesday night, JKLF chairman Malik said that mainstream politicians were responsible for “all miseries” that Kashmiris are facing over the past 70 years as they “promote the politics of deception”, Greater Kashmir reported. On 11 November, the state government allowed a seminar hosted by Tehreek-e-Hurriyat , led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani, to commemorate the 140th birth anniversary of Sir Muhammad Iqbal. It was a rare occasion for Tehreek-e-Hurriyat activists, a majority of whom were arrested after last year’s unrest, to huddle under a single roof and break the bread together. Earlier, on 20 October, authorities had imposed curfew-like restrictions in parts of Srinagar on Friday to prevent separatist-called protests against growing incidents of braid chopping in Jammu and Kashmir. Kashmiri separatists such as Syed Ali Geelani, Farooq and others had been placed under house-arrest as well. With inputs from agencies