Geelani, Mirwaiz Detained

Jammu and Kashmir separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani has been detained under a tough law, while moderate Mirwaiz Umer Farooq put under house arrest, said media reports.

Srinagar District Magistrate Mehraj Ahmad Kakroo said that Geelani was booked under the Public Safety Act for making provocative speeches inciting youths to violence, reports said.

“We have booked him under the Public Safety Act. I have signed his detention order,” Kakroo was quoted as saying.

Geelani was taken into preventive custody along with his associate Ashraf Sehrai on June 20.

Geelani favours Jammu and Kashmir’s merger with Pakistan and is bitterly opposed to any talks with India.

According to some reports, he is being moved to a tourist hut in the high-security Cheshmashahi area here considering his old age and failing health.

While, Mirwaiz Farooq was placed under house arrest at his uptown Nigeen residence in order to scuttle a separatist all parties meet convened by him to forge unity among separatist groups, said reports.

The decision to crack the whip on the separatist leaders was taken by chief minister Omar Abdullah.

Over 40 activists belonging to both the hardline and moderate Hurriyat groups have been detained in the state, reports said citing police sources.

Pro-independence leader and Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman Muhammad Yasin Malik has been shifted to the Srinagar central jail after he courted arrest last week while alleging human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir.

(Based on internet reports)