Hardline separatist leader Asiya Andrabi was arrested by the Jammu and Kashmir police on Saturday.Andrabi is a trusted lieutenant of separatist Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani. She and fellow separatist leader Masarat Alam have been spearheading the protests in Srinagar.Andrabi, who had been underground for some time, was one of the most wanted leaders in the Valley.Kashmir has witnessed a vicious cycle of protests and civilian deaths in firing by security forces.
Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was placed under house arrest on Saturday morning.
"Because of the political stature of Syed Ali Geelani, Prime Minister Sharif invited him to visit Pakistan and exchange views on the current situation in Kashmir," Foreign Office spokesman Qazi Khalilullah told reporters in Islamabad.
Geelani also criticised porous borders, self-governance and other formulas being put forth by the Pakistan President, General Parvez Musharraf, to meet India midway in resolving the Kashmir dispute.
Hardline faction of Hurriyat Conference headed by Syed Ali Shah Geelani dropped plans to stage protest marches to army and other security forces camps here on September 21.
After a series of raids by the National Investigative Agency on kashmiri separatists over the last two days, the authorities today prevented separatists from holding a meeting at residence of hardline Hurriyat Conference chairman Syed Ali Geelani, placing several leaders including Mirwaiz Umar Farooq under house arrest.
The hard-line faction of the Hurriyat Conference led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani has issued a curious 11-day protest schedule asking people of Kashmir to carry out normal activities from dusk to dawn on strike days. As per the schedule, only two days -- September 19 and 22 -- have been exempted from strikes and protests by the Geelani-led Hurriyat faction, which is spearheading the ongoing agitation in the valley.
Jammu and Kashmir government ordered a magisterial probe into the killing of a youth in firing by security forces during a protest demonstration in Budgam district on Saturday.
Hardline Hurriyat Conference Chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani has stoked a controversy by paying tributes to 2 militants who were killed in an encounter in Tral area of Kashmir, in which an army commander and a policeman died.
Separatist leader Masarat Alam Bhat on Thursday denied waving Pakistani flag at a rally organised to welcome his senior Syed Ali Shah Geelani in Srinagar, but said it was a representation of the feelings, aspirations and sentiments of the people across Kashmir.
After the meeting with the Pak PM, separatist leaders admitted that differences persisted.
Separatist leader Masarat Alam, who was invited for Pakistan National Day celebrations at the High Commission in Delhi on Monday, will not be attending the event.
Probe agencies have found a common link between money received by Firdous Ahmad Shah, a member of Syed Ali Shah Geelani's hardline Hurriyat Conference, and financiers of 26/11.
Aziz, chairman of Hurriyat constituent People's League, was nabbed by a team of Delhi Police Special Cell when he was coming out of the Pakistan High Commission on Thursday evening.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Yashwant Sinha on Tuesday created ripples as he led a five-member delegation of civil society members to meet separatist leaders Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq in a bid to break the three-month impasse in Kashmir triggered by the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani.
Normal life was disrupted in Kashmir Valley on Thursday due to a strike called by hardline Hurriyat Conference led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani to protest killings in Gaza and to mourn the death of seven persons in an accident involving an army vehicle.
The residence of Geelani has been converted into an unofficial jail. No one is allowed to enter or leave the premises.
Normal life was disrupted in Kashmir Valley on Friday due to a strike called by hardline Hurriyat Conference to protest the encounter killing of seven men by the Army in Kupwara district.
SAS Geelani said he would support a dialogue process aimed at resolving Kashmir issue.
Syed Ali Shah Geelani, chairman of the hardline faction of the All Party Hurriyat Conference, on Tuesday demanded the immediate withdrawal of security forces from the Kashmir Valley. Addressing a mammoth gathering of over 1,00,000 people at Srinagar's Tourists Reception Centre Grounds along with fellow leaders Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, Shabbir Shah and Yasin Malik, Geelani laid down its immediate demand: The withdrawal of security forces.
A youth was killed and three others injured as security forces opened fire in Kupwara district of Kashmir to disperse protesters who were pelting stones on an army camp.
Akbar said around 30 members belonging to various constituents of the Geelani's faction have been invited by the Pakistan High Commission. They include Geelani, Ashraf Sehrai, Shabir Shah and Nayeem Khan.
Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, chairman of the All Party Hurriyat Conference, told rediff.com, "Anyone who indulges in acts of terrorism on either side of the border should be held accountable and should be dealt with in accordance with the law, whether it is Ajmal Kasab or anyone."
An official said that the search operation turned into an encounter after terrorists fired upon the forces.
Ahead of his talks with his Indian counterpart Nirupama Rao, Pakistan Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir will be meeting leaders of various separatist outfits from Kashmir over the next two days.
Seven members of the moderate All Parties Hurriyat Conference general council have quit the conglomerate over differences with the top leadership on "restoration of the Hurriyat constitution".
In the last three years, the Union Territory administration has invoked 311 (2)(c) of the Constitution to sack more than 50 employees, who were allegedly operating in shadows within the government and drawing a salary from the public exchequer, however, they were helping Pakistani terror outfits, providing logistics to terrorists, propagating terrorists' ideology, raising terror finances and furthering secessionist agenda, officials said.
Curfew was on Sunday lifted from all parts of Kashmir but normal life in the Valley remained affected due to the strike call given by hardline Hurriyat Conference to protest against the firing incident in Ramban district that left four persons dead.
"There should be a complete shutdown on April 2 to protest the proposed visit of Modi. All rhetoric about development or construction of tunnels and roads are futile and will not succeed in luring us," chairmen of the rival factions of the Hurriyat Conference, Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, and Jammu-Kashmir Liberation Front chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik said in a joint statement.
The others named in the PE are Naeem Khan, Farooq Ahmed Dar alias 'Bitta Karate' and Gazi Javed Baba of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat.
Curfew-like restrictions have been imposed and separatist leaders have been detained.
Javadekar was at the event, where presence of his ministerial colleague V K Singh last year had drawn flak from the media, for around 20 minutes, and extended his 'best wishes' to the Pakistani people on the sidelines.
Normal life was affected in Kashmir Valley on Sunday following a strike called by hardline Hurriyat Conference to protest the killing of a three-year-old boy by unidentified gunmen in Sopore.
A teenager was shot dead by security forces in the Kashmir Valley on Saturday during a strike called by hardline Hurriyat Conference against the recent killing of two youths in an army operation in Tral, prompting the authorities to register a murder case and order a magisterial probe.
The body of Sehrai, 77, was handed over to his family on Wednesday evening and taken in a police escort to Kupwara in north Kashmir, at least 350 km from Jammu, where he would be buried at his ancestral graveyard in accordance with the COVID-19 guidelines.
In a veiled reference to separatists and hardline Hurriyat Conference leaders, Singh also said the security given to people getting funds from Pakistan and its snooping agency Inter-Services Intelligence should be reviewed.
In a development that may raise an alarm in the security establishment, flags of dreaded terror outfit ISIS along with those of Pakistan were today raised in Kashmir after which police promised a thorough probe and legal action against those involved.
The separatist had applied for a passport to allow him to visit his ailing daughter in Saudi Arabia.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances