The authorities on Wednesday put several separatist leaders under house detention to prevent a conclave aimed at chalking out a strategy against the State Government that has allegedly squeezed the political space for the secessionist groups and their ideology.
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who heads a faction of Hurriyat Conference, had invited leaders of all separatist groups, intellectuals, trade union leaders, writers and civil society members to discuss the strategy to counter what he called “State aggression on separatist leadership, people and younger generation across Kashmir”.
However, Mirwaiz was placed under house arrest at his Nigeen mansion and several other separatist leaders were not allowed to proceed towards Mirwaiz Manzil, the headquarters of Awami Action Committee, his own organisation founded by his slain father Molvi Farooq in 1964.
However, several middle-rung separatist leaders and civil society members succeeded in gathering at the old city venue. They were addressed by Mirwaiz telephonically. A former professor of National Institute of Technology who heads a prominent educational institute in Srinagar Dr Yusuful Umar presided over the meeting.
Prominent separatist leaders, including Syed Ali Geelani, Yasin Malik, Shabir Shah and Nayeem Khan were also put under house arrest. Mirwaiz said that conclave was aimed at formulating a joint strategy and looking into alternate means of protest against continuous and growing state aggression, imposition of undeclared curfew especially in seven police stations (of old Srinagar), and detention and house arrest of resistance leadership.
A leader of all-women Dukhtaran-e-Millat outfit Nahida Nasrin ridiculed the state government for continued detention of Asiya Andrabi, the radical chief of the reformist outfit. Asiya was in news recently after Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharief lauded her “anti-India stance” and promised his country’s continued diplomatic and moral support to Kashmiri separatists. Sharief has written to Andrabi in response to a letter she wrote to appreciate Pakistan’s recent pro-Kashmir policy in the UN summit.