The detentions come ahead of a crucial hearing on Article 35-A in Supreme Court which is likely to take place on Monday. The article, incorporated into the Indian Constitution in 1954, grants special rights and privileges to the citizens of Jammu and Kashmir.
Top separatist leaders were placed under house arrest on Friday ahead of their march towards Shopian town in south Kashmir where curfew remained in force for the eight consecutive day following killing of five persons in CRPF firing earlier this month.
Separatist Kashmiri leader Ghulam Nabi Fai, who has been arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on charges of working for Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, was the point man of contact for the Hurriyat leaders whenever they visited the United States.
Moderate Hurriyat leaders Abdul Gani Bhat and Lone brothers -- Sajjad and Bilal, who have been critical of terrorists recently, stayed away from Pakistan National Day celebrations where People's Democratic Party leader Maulvi Ifthikhar Hussain Ansari was a surprise guest. Both moderate and hard-line factions of the Hurriyat Conference were represented by their chairmen Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and Syed Ali Shah Geelani respectively at the Pakistan Day celebrations.
Welcoming resumption of foreign secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan, chairman of moderate faction of Hurriyat Conference Mirwaiz Umer Farooq on Friday said the two sides should hold dialogue at the prime ministerial level to resolve the Kashmir issue.
Normal life was on Thursday disrupted in Kashmir Valley due to a strike called by separatist groups to protest against the "proposed plans" to establish Sainik Colony, settlements for migrant Kashmiri Pandits and induction of new industrial policy in the state.
Hurriyat Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and several other leaders of the amalgam were placed under house arrest late on Wednesday night, ahead of a rally in old city on the third death anniversary of a slain separatist leader.
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."
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 separatist camp have called for an 'Aazadi march' to district headquarters on Saturday as part of their protest schedule.
'Many people thought that a Hindu nationalist party's government would take bold steps vis-a-vis Kashmir. But sadly their approach has been led by military and security priorities.' 'We would suggest to India that she initiate the dialogue following the Vajpayee model. That is the way forward. Otherwise, there is a looming threat. We are seeing educated youth joining militancy.'
A group of miscreants pelted stones on the bus, resulting in head injury to a class 2 student.
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.
The joint separatist camp, including Hurriyat Conference factions led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik-led Jammu-Kashmir Liberation Front, has asked the people to march to Tral to pay tributes to Wani, who was killed in an encounter with security forces on this day last year.
The DGP said the police have resolved not to spare the people behind the act. "It is the resolve of Jammu and Kashmir Police that we are not going to spare these rascals," he said.
A criminal complaint was on Saturday filed in a court in Chandigarh, accusing Hurriyat leaders Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Bilal Lone of waging a war against the country by making 'seditious' statements. The complaint was filed by a non-governmental organisation in the court of Judicial Magistrate Paramjit Kaur who fixed December 1 as the date for hearing evidence in the case.
A young man was killed and two others injured in firing by the Central Reserve Police Force on Saturday during protests in Budgam district of Jammu and Kashmir where a strike has been called by the hardline Hurriyat faction against the killing of two youths in Tral earlier this week.
Curfew-like-restrictions were imposed on Tuesday in Jammu and Kashmir's summer capital Srinagar and other towns to scuttle the separatist called marches.
The moderate faction of the Hurriyat Conference decided on Sunday, not to meet the interlocutors appointed by the Centre for Jammu and Kashmir, saying such an exercise was aimed at keeping the issue lingering.
On a mission to understand the ground situation in Jammu and Kashmir, the all party delegation on Monday began its two-day exercise with Home Minister P Chidambaram promising the people of the state that their future, honour and dignity are secure as part of India.
However, the attendance of devotees was thin as the people from adjoining localities only were not able to reach the grand mosque due to non-availability of public transport in view of the strike.
A senior Hurriyat leader has created a flutter by saying that two separatist leaders and his brother were killed by "our own people" and not security agencies, prompting Jammu and Kashmir government to term it as a "late admission" and a call for a probe to fix responsibility.
Following recent serious differences that have surfaced in the moderate All Parties Hurriyat Conference over the issue of 'quiet dialogue' with the Centre, an extraordinary meeting of the conglomerate decided, on Monday, to suspend the party's office bearers and keep the various committees in suspended animation.
Hurriyat Conference on Friday voiced its dismay at India and Pakistan not making much headway at the talks between their foreign ministers, saying the outcome has left people in the Kashmir valley "disappointed."
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.
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.
Stone-pelters clashed with security personnel in Anantnag and in the Safakadal area in Srinagr in the wake of the rumours, he said.
Ahead of the meeting with his Indian counterpart, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Saturday said New Delhi should engage itself in talks to resolve the Kashmir issue."We hope New Delhi will realise the ground reality and world trends which essentially include negotiations and talks on resolving outstanding issues," he said. Qureshi was addressing a press conference after his meeting with All Parties Hurriyat Conference Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.
Fifteen people have been reported killed after a passenger bus fell into a gorge in Reasi area of Jammu district
An Amnesty International team, on a week-long visit to Kashmir valley to assess the situation on the human rights front, on Tuesday met a number of separatist leaders.
Separatist groups in Kashmir on Thursday reacted angrily to the death sentence awarded to two locals, who were held guilty by a Delhi court in the 1996 Lajpat Nagar bomb blast case, in which 13 persons were killed.The moderate and hard-line groups of the separatist conglomerate All Parties Hurriyat Conference, headed by Mirwaiz Moulvi Umar Farooq and Syed Ali Shah Geelani respectively, have called for a protest shutdown on Friday against the death sentence.
Kashmir University, Central University Kashmir and Islamic University of Science and Technology have postponed all examinations scheduled for Wednesday.
Pakistan on Friday claimed that any talks between the Indian government and separatist Kashmiri leaders will not be successful without its involvement.
Shops and business establishments were closed across the Valley while all kinds of transport remained off the roads due to the strike called.
'Dr Singh reached out to Pakistan when he said he hopes to have a cordial relations with the neighbouring country but he did not reach out to the people of Kashmir. It is rather unfortunate,' says Hurriyat chief Mirwaiz Umer Farooz
Authorities on Thursday booked hard-line Hurriyat chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani under the stringent Public Safety Act and placed moderate Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umer Farooq under house arrest to foil their planned all-party meet to chalk out the future course of action. "We have booked him (Geelani) under PSA. There are a good number of grounds (for detention) against Geelani. I have signed the PSA warrant against Geelani and as per the orders," said the DM.
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.
'DISGUST' -- that's how former army chief and now Minister of State for external affairs V K Singh reacted after attending the Pakistan Day celebrations in the country's high commission in New Delhi on Monday evening.
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.
One person was killed in Srinagar on Friday when the vehicle he was traveling in was targeted by a stone-pelting mob, which was protesting against the state government's decision to put senior separatist leaders Mirwaiz Moulvi Umar Farooq and Syed Ali Shah Geelani under house arrest."A stone hit Sheikh on the head. He was rushed to Soura medical institute, where he succumbed to the injury," the officer said.
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