The Jammu and Kashmir high court has quashed the detention of the ailing chairman of Hurriyat Conference Syed Ali Shah Geelani under the Public Safety Act and has ordered his release.
The arrest came minutes before Geelani was scheduled to address a press conference regarding the ongoing protests against the alleged rape and murder of two young women in south Kashmir Shopian town on Saturday last.
Demanding that Jammu and Kashmir be considered a "disputed territory", hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani on Sunday said that people there should be given the right to "self determination".
In April, Bhat was detained under the Public Safety Act for allegedly hoisting Pakistani flags and chanting anti-national slogans at a rally in uptown Hyderpora area.
Geelani, chairman of hard-line Hurriyat Conference, also tried to defy the house arrest and lead a march towards the UNMOG.
Junaid Ashraf Khan 'Sehrai' whose father is chairman of the separatist conglomerate Tehrek-e-Hurriyat, was killed in the encounter.
The separatist groups had called for a march to Lal Chowk to protest civilian deaths during the unrest.
The special NIA judge charged him with being a member of a terror group, raising funds for them as well as aiding an outfit.
He made it clear that the issue of national security cannot be compromised.
A day after voters in the Baramulla Lok Sabha constituency exercised their franchise, some of them were thrashed for defying the separatist call for boycott of the elections, district officials said.
On the 10th anniversary of the attack on Indian Parliament, Vicky Nanjappa talks to Professor SAR Geelani speaks about the trauma of being wrongfully accused in the case, the investigation and Afzal Guru's conviction.
Moderate Hurriyat Conference Chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq on Monday joined his hardline rival Syed Ali Shah Geelani to oppose the concert being organised by the German Embassy next month in Srinagar.
The 45-year-old separatist leader has been booked under the harsh law for waving Pakistani flag and chanting anti-India slogans at a rally in Sringar.
Normal life in the Kashmir Valley was severely affected due to a strike call given by hardline Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani against the continued arrests of youths.
Separatist outfits in Kashmir have reacted strongly to the arrest of Ghulam Nabi Fai, the executive director of the Kashmir American Council based in Washington, by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Terming the arrest of Dr Fai as "unjustified", hard-line separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani said, "The arrest has been made at the behest of the government of India. It is the result of a deep rooted conspiracy to weaken the ongoing movement in Kashmir."
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, chairman of the All Party Hurriyat Conference, has denied news reports that appeared in a leading national paper saying that he did not want travel documents to be issued to rival APHC group chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani when an AHPC delegation visited Pakistan in 2005.
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.
The agency alleged that Shahid is "one of several Indian contacts of Bhat" who have been in telephonic contact with him to receive the money transfer codes.
A photo of Junaid Ashraf holding an AK 47 assault rifle and wearing an armour vest went viral on social media on Saturday.
Minister of State for External Affairs Minister V K Singh on Monday represented the government at the Pakistan National Day reception.
Rashid was arrested on August 9 last year, since he was unable to give any convincing answers to the questions, the NIA said.
The separatists termed the state government's appeal for help to restore normalcy as "childish and illogical".
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.
Owaisi said, 'Srinagar is a ghost town. Yeh kya kar diya hai (What have they done)? The people are very angry. It moved us to see that people were searching for milk. We were told that since last three months children were not going to school, medicines or proper food have been in short supply. They said they were being tormented.They can't bear the torture of their youth."
A delegation of members of Parliament and civil society members, who are on a "fact-finding" tour of Jammu and Kashmir, on Saturday asked the Centre to start a dialogue process for resolution of Kashmir issue and include separatist leaders like Syed Ali Shah Geelani in it.
Asiya Andrabi, the woman separatist leader who is on the Kashmir police's most wanted list, speaks to Rediff.com's Krishnakumar Padmanabhan in an exclusive interview.
A little-known Kashmiri separatist leader is spurring the stone-throwing protests against security forces in the Kashmir Valley with tactics such as YouTube recruitment videos and protest calendars published in the local media.
"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 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.
The hard-line separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani on Friday threatened agitation 'in case the annual Amarnath yatra is not restricted to the original 15 day schedule.'
Apparently trying to dabble in internal rivalry in the Hurriyat, Pakistan has invited hardline leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani as the 'Chairman' of the amalgam along with six other Kashmiri separatist leaders for a meeting in Islamabad later this month.
Life across Kashmir was paralyzed on Monday by a shutdown called by the hardline separatist leader, Syed Ali Shah Geelani.
Geelani remained under house arrest for the third consecutive day
Life in Kashmir was in Tuesday paralysed in view of a strike called by the hard-line separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani against the conviction of six Kashmiris in the 1996 Lajpat Nagar bomb blast case in New Delhi.
S A R Geelani, the Delhi University lecturer who was acquitted in the Parliament attack case four years ago, has embarked upon an India-wide tour to portray the real picture of the ongoing crisis in Kashmir. He talks to rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa
Three persons were injured, two of them with rubber bullets in post Friday prayer protests in north Kashmir's Sopore town.
Indian Army has taken the initiative to induct women in rank and file, and the first batch of 100 women soldiers is undergoing training at Corps of Military Police Centre and School, he said.
Tailing pro-Pakistani separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani helped the Jammu and Kashmir police in nabbing dreaded Hizbul Mujahideen militant Abdul Aziz Dar alias General Moosa from Srinagar on Saturday.Dar, popularly known as General Moosa among separatists, had been on the run since last year, after he was found actively involved in anti-national agitations. He later allegedly indulged in liaising between Geelani and the Hizbul Mujahideen.
The Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chief, who was shifted to Tihar jail under police protection, was taken into preventive custody in February by the Jammu and Kashmir police and shifted to Jammu's Kot Balwal jail.
Top Kashmiri separatist leaders, including Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, were on Thursday put under house arrest only to be released within hours in actions that were linked to their proposed meeting with Pakistani National Security Advisor Sartaj Aziz in Delhi on Sunday.
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