Major crackdown on separatists in Kashmir
M Saleem Pandit | TNN | Feb 23, 2019, 23:11 ISTSRINAGAR: In a massive crackdown on separatists, police on Friday night arrested dozens of Jamat-e-Islami leaders including its chief Dr Abdul Hamid Fayaz and all the organization’s office bearers. Separatist leader and JKLF chief Yasin Malik was also arrested.
The police refrained from giving specific reasons for the sudden action. However, with the Supreme Court hearing on a petition challenging Article 35A likely next week, the entire Valley was abuzz with speculation that the Centre was going to scrap the article through an ordinance.
Article 35A bars people from outside Jammu and Kashmir from buying or owning immovable property, settling permanently and also from becoming beneficiaries of state-sponsored schemes.
The Jamat leaders were picked up from several places across the valley, including Anantnag, Pahalgam, Dialgam and Tral in south Kashmir. The authorities are likely to arrest even some mainstream political leaders to avert any untoward situation.
A Jamat spokesman said the police and other forces launched a “mass arrest drive” and detained dozens of its central and district-level leaders.
“Article 35 A is being heard within days and the way forces personnel unleashed the spree of mass arrest and detained dozens of Jamat members prior to the hearing seems something is hatching behind the curtains,” he said, adding: “Any attempt of eroding or tempering Article 35(A) is unacceptable for people of Jammu and Kashmir.”
The latest developments come two days after the security to 18 separatist leaders, including moderate Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, and more than 150 others, was withdrawn by the state.
A top police official, however, informed TOI that the arrival of central forces and arrest of leaders and activists of separatist groups including Jamat is part of election exercise undertaken to ensure free and fair polls in the state along with other parts of the country.
He also said that the central forces deployed for Amarnath Yatra and municipal and panchayat elections last year are also returning which is a routine practice.
The police refrained from giving specific reasons for the sudden action. However, with the Supreme Court hearing on a petition challenging Article 35A likely next week, the entire Valley was abuzz with speculation that the Centre was going to scrap the article through an ordinance.
Article 35A bars people from outside Jammu and Kashmir from buying or owning immovable property, settling permanently and also from becoming beneficiaries of state-sponsored schemes.
The Jamat leaders were picked up from several places across the valley, including Anantnag, Pahalgam, Dialgam and Tral in south Kashmir. The authorities are likely to arrest even some mainstream political leaders to avert any untoward situation.
A Jamat spokesman said the police and other forces launched a “mass arrest drive” and detained dozens of its central and district-level leaders.
“Article 35 A is being heard within days and the way forces personnel unleashed the spree of mass arrest and detained dozens of Jamat members prior to the hearing seems something is hatching behind the curtains,” he said, adding: “Any attempt of eroding or tempering Article 35(A) is unacceptable for people of Jammu and Kashmir.”
The latest developments come two days after the security to 18 separatist leaders, including moderate Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, and more than 150 others, was withdrawn by the state.
A top police official, however, informed TOI that the arrival of central forces and arrest of leaders and activists of separatist groups including Jamat is part of election exercise undertaken to ensure free and fair polls in the state along with other parts of the country.
He also said that the central forces deployed for Amarnath Yatra and municipal and panchayat elections last year are also returning which is a routine practice.
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