The Jammu and Kashmir government on Monday evening released chairman of the hardline faction of Hurriyat Conference Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chairman Mohammad Yaseen Malik and chairman of moderate faction of Hurriyat Mirwaiz Umer Farooq.They were arrested ahead of their march to Lal Chowk last month. Geelani was taken to a hospital in Srinagar on Monday evening, after he complained of sickness in police custody.
The strike was called to protest the arrest and subsequent booking under Public Safety Act of six of Hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani's close associates in Srinagar last week.
While they were invited with protests at Geelani's home, they were turned away by Yasin Malik, who was lodged in jail.
Geelani should be given travel documents on top priority for going to the West for treatment, the Hurriyat said.
"We will take part in the talks, which are meant for resolution of the issue," the firebrand leader said.
However, the APC failed to make any headway in his proposed formation of working groups as some political parties opposed the move.
Geelani did not attach much significance to the resumption of the dialogue process between India and Pakistan, saying it will revolve around checking terrorism and not for settling Kashmir issue, which is the 'mother of all problems.'
The hardline faction of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, however, said it was no permanent solution to the Kashmir issue.
The state government pointed accusing fingers at separatists, saying they had started the "era of destruction" in Kashmir but were now trying to find an escape route.
14 places in Kashmir and eight places in the national capital were raided by the NIA.
Chairman of the hardline faction of Hurriyat Conference Syed Ali Shah Geelani was placed under house arrest on Wednesday morning, official sources said.\n
Kashmir observed a complete shutdown on Friday against the alleged desecration of holy Quran by the US troops\nin Guantanamo Bay detention centre, official sources said.
Separatists from Kashmir valley on Tuesday met Pakistan Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Gilani and were divided on the dialogue process between India and Pakistan with moderates terming it as necessary for building 'mutual trust' while hardliners dubbed it as a 'futile exercise'.
Normal life was disrupted in the Kashmir valley on Tuesday due to a strike called by several organisations to protest against an anti-Islam film.
Authorities have mounted a severe security bandobast to maintain law and order on Friday, even as the curfew continued for the sixth day in the old city and some major areas of the valley.
Jammu and Kashmir police Wednesday evening filed an FIR against hardline separatist leader, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Masarat Alam Bhat and other separatist leaders 'for provocative activities and hoisting Pakistan flag' in summer capital Srinagar.
A shutdown called by hardline separatist Hurriyat Conference to protest against the Jammu and Kashmir government's decision to shift prison inmates from the Valley to outside jails affected normal life in Srinagar on Tuesday.
Ahead of Indo-Pak foreign ministers meet in New Delhi on Wednesday, Pakistan Minister Hina Rabbani Khar on Tuesday met both the Hurriyat Conference factions during which the separatists sought Islamabad's intervention for release of Ghulam Nabi Fai arrested in US for being a front of Inter Services Intelligence.
The opposition Peoples Democratic Party Monday described the meeting between the foreign policy adviser to Pakistani Prime Minister Sartaj Aziz and the separatist All Parties Hurriyat Conference leaders as a 'welcome revival of the process initiated by the National Democratic Alliance government' and said that 'it should be carried forward in all its dimensions'.
Normal life in Kashmir was disrupted on Tuesday following a strike call given by the hardline separatist All Parties Hurriyat Conference against the curbs imposed on its chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani in New Delhi, which barred him from leaving the capital.
Security forces opened fire to quell stone-pelting protesters as fresh violence erupted on Friday in Kashmir after days of relative calm, leaving two persons dead and 50 others injured. Authorities imposed strict restrictions on the movement of people following a call by the separatists to march to Maisuma in the heart of the city to protest against the killing of youths allegedly in firing by security forces.
Curfew-like-restrictions were imposed on Tuesday in Jammu and Kashmir's summer capital Srinagar and other towns to scuttle the separatist called marches.
Prohibitory orders clamped following lifting of curfew remained in force in Srinagar and other major towns of the Kashmir Valley on Monday even as normal life was affected in the wake of a strike called by separatists to protest against recent preventive detentions.
An indefinite curfew was imposed in Srinagar and other towns on Thursday evening to scuttle Friday's proposed separatist march to Eidgah grounds in the city.
The efforts to forge unity among the various Kashmiri separatist groups received a jolt after hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani rejected the unity move of the moderate, All Parties Hurriyat Conference on Wednesday.
Booker Prize winning author Arundhati Roy recently received a tremendous amount of criticism for her speech at the Azadi -- The Only Way seminar in New Delhi, where she shared the stage with Hurriyat hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani. In a strongly worded statement, Roy clarifies her stance on the issue.
Terming the remarks made by Hurriyat hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani and writer Arundhati Roy at a seminar in New Delhi as 'most unfortunate', Law Minister M Veerappa Moily on Tuesday said freedom of speech cannot violate patriotic sentiments of the people."Yes, there is freedom of speech, but it can't violate the patriotic sentiments of the people," he said.
At least five persons were injured in fresh clashes between youths and police following an attempt by activists of a women separatist organisation to take out a march in defiance of curfew orders in Srinagar, officials said.
The daring militant attack on an Army camp in Jammu and Kashmir last Friday shook the people of Uri town, situated close to Line of Control in Kashmir, but it did not deter them from exercising their franchise as voters thronged the polling station on Tuesday morning.
Markets, banks, semi-government institutions were closed and transport remained off the roads in Srinagar and other major towns in the state in response to the call given by hardline faction of Hurriyat Conference to protest against booking of its chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani under Public Safety Act (PSA) and continued detention of other separatist leaders.
A shutdown called by the hardline separatist All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) against the alleged molestation and murder of a college girl in north Kashmir Kupwara district once again crippled normal life across the valley on Friday.
Geelani was heading towards Baramulla to address Friday prayers and a public meeting
Rajnath Singh led the delegation of 26 MPs from 20 parties which stayed overnight in Srinagar before stopping over in Jammu this afternoon.
"Quiet diplomacy is secret diplomacy where few people will decide things and force a solution on people of Jammu and Kashmir against their aspirations, sacrifices and 62-year struggle," Chairman of hardline faction of Hurriyat Conference Syed Ali Shah Geelani said at a function in Srinagar.
Separatists in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday said the Centre's offer of a 'quiet' dialogue is aimed at thrusting a compromise solution on the people of the state.
Chairman of Hardline faction of Hurriyat Conference Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front chairman Mohammad Yaseen Malik were detained on Sunday when they tried to march to Handwara in north Kashmir, where situation was rife after army shot dead a suspected militant.
The state government is just a puppet of New Delhi, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, the hardline leader of the Hurriyat Conference (G), tells Saubhadra Chatterji.
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