The state police on Friday arrested one of the two activists of the hardline Hurriyat Conference who were allegedly involved in a conspiracy to engineer violence in Kashmir valley by planning the killing of 10 to 15 people during a procession. The police swooped down at a place on Narbal-Magam Road and arrested Shabir Ahmed Wani, district president of the Hurriyat Conference led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani.
The Delhi High Court has ruled that an undertrial's prolonged incarceration cannot be a reason to grant bail in terrorism cases, emphasizing the gravity of such offenses and their potential to destabilize the nation. The court denied bail to separatist leader Nayeem Ahmad Khan in a terror-funding case involving Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and 26/11 Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed. The court considered the accused's argument regarding a prolonged trial and his right to liberty but emphasized that the serious nature of the crime, with its potential to disrupt national unity and create fear among the public, outweighs the length of incarceration. Khan, who was arrested in 2017, has been accused of conspiring for secession of Jammu and Kashmir through terrorist activities, receiving funding from Pakistan, and organizing anti-India rallies and demonstrations. The court highlighted the evidence, including witness statements and documents, supporting the accusations against Khan.
PM denies rift over talks with Hurriyat as he departs on his 3-nation tour
In 2022 Nanaji Dembi pulled down the Hurriyat office board in Srinagar, an act of defiance that grabbed headlines. Despite such nationalistic bravado, the BJP has denied him a ticket for the assembly election.
The separatist Hurriyat Conference is finished in Jammu and Kashmir but attempts are being made to keep it alive from Pakistan, Director General of Police Dilbag Singh said on Monday, adding that the militancy in the region is "on crutches".
Sources said the accusation comes after Geelani nominated his close aide Ghulam Nabi Sofi as the leader of the Hurriyat in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, replacing Abdullah Malik.
Moderate Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq was placed under house arrest on Wednesday, a day ahead of his proposed rally to commemorate the death anniversary of his father who was assassinated by gunmen in 1990, the conglomerate said.
"The government of India should come up with its roadmap to Kashmir. We would welcome its proposals on the resolution of the long-standing dispute of Kashmir," the Hurriyat chief said.
With US President Barack Obama visiting India next month, the moderate faction of Hurriyat Conference said it would launch a signature campaign on Monday, calling for America's intervention as a third party to resolve the Kashmir issue.
None of the top Hurriyat leaders was present in the office when the grenade was hurled.
Favouring a ceasefire in Kashmir coinciding with Eid next month, the All Parties Hurriyat Conference on Tuesday said this would build moral pressure on militant outfits.
The hard-line Hurriyat Conference on Tuesday said it was willing to consider the offer of talks by Centre-appointed interlocutors, but the Delhi police's restriction orders on Syed Ali Shah Geelani had put a spanner in this direction."Hurriyat had decided to discuss the invitation of the Centre's interlocutors after the return of Geelani from Delhi, but his detention has delayed the meeting, where a decision would have been taken on the issue," Hurriyat spokesman said.
Accusing Delhi of insincerity, the Hurriyat said the talks would resume only if the government ended "human rights violation" in Jammu and Kashmir.
Moderate Hurriyat leader Maulana Abbas Ansari says he expected peace talks between India and Pakistan to resume soon.
'We want New Delhi and Islamabad to include Kashmiris in the talks while addressing the Kashmir issue,' Hurriyat chairman Mohammad Abbas Ansari said.
The Army on Monday rubbished allegations levelled by hardline Hurriyat Conference led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani that the force was trying to hush up the alleged rape of a woman by two men in uniform in south Kashmir last week.
The moderate faction of Hurriyat Conference on Sunday welcomed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's offer to engage separatists for talks on Kashmir issue, and said it had no conditions as "dialogue and conditionalities don't go together".
The pro-Pakistan Peoples League criticised Mirwaiz Umer Farooq for holding talks with the Centre.
To support tourists affected by the attack or in need of information, Jammu and Kashmir police set up a dedicated help desk at the Police Control Room.
Jamaat-e-Islami has removed the hardline leader in an attempt to moderate the extremist voices in the separatist amalgam.
Rashid used to be a member of the Democratic Freedom Party, but quit in 2001 following difference with its leader Shabir Shah. He later joined the Muslim League, a constituent of the Hurriyat.
"The dialogue process has become so slow that it has started creating doubts among various quarters about the sincerity of the peace process," top Hurriyat leaders told a five-member delegation of the European Union in Srinagar.
However, the government's response in the event of the Hurriyat pulling out of the talks was not clear.
While Mirwaiz Farooq was assassinated inside his Nageen residence in capital city this day in 1990, Abdul Gani Lone, the founder of Peoples Conference (PC) fell to assassin's bullets the same day in 2002.
This will be the first interaction between Jammu and Kashmir's moderate separatist group and the United Progressive Alliance dispensation as part of the dialogue process.
The Hizbul Mujahideen chief said he could not back their peace moves or any future Kashmir solution unless hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani was taken on board, local media reported.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday met Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Omar Farooq, who had also met Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi earlier. Pakistani officials said that during the 30-minute meeting, Farooq briefed Zardari about the All Parties Hurriyat Conference's perspective of the ground realities in Kashmir.Earlier, the Pakistan foreign minister met Farooq, ahead of his meeting with his Indian counterpart S M Krishna on Monday.
The moderate faction of the Hurriyat Conference on Saturday rubbished as a "figment of imagination" the claims made by United States attorney Neil H Macbride that its chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was controlled by Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence. "The statement made by Macbride about the Mirwaiz is his figment of imagination and laughable," Hurriyat said in a statement.
