(AP Photo/Dar Yasin)Over a dozen suspected Kashmiri militants lodged in jails in Jammu and Kathua districts were on Thursday shifted to Haryana for security reasons. Also, 26 prisoners booked under Public Safety Act were on Thursday transferred to Agra central jail from Srinagar jail.
Sources in J&K Police told The Indian Express that “more than 800 people have been arrested” over the past few days. “Today, 35 out of these 800 have been sent to jail outside the state in a special flight,” the source said.
He added that Dr Mubeen Shah is among those sent outside the state. Shah is Kashmir’s noted business leader and former head of Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He was arrested from his home in Srinagar on August 5. The official also said Mohammad Yasin Khan and Mian Abdul Qayoom have also been sent to a jail outside the state. While Khan is also a well-known trade leader and head of Kashmir Economic Alliance, Qayoom is the Kashmir Bar Association President. The source said all those sent outside the state have been booked under the Public Safety Act.
Official sources said that 12 militants who were lodged in the high-security Kot Bhalwal jail, two in Kathua and one each in district jails at Ambphalla, Jammu and in Hiranagar have been shifted to the district jail at Haryana’s Karnal.
They, however, described the shifting as routine, saying that earlier Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chief Yasin Malik and Hurriyat leader Musarat Alam Bhat were sent from Kot Bhalwal to Delhi’s Tihar jail, following a request from the NIA who wanted them for its investigation into cases registered against them. Over two dozen Kashmiri militants were shifted from Kot Bhalwal jail to different jails in the country about three-four months ago.
“Twenty six prisoners booked under PSA have been shifted to central jail Agra from Srinagar jail,” said a government official on the condition of anonymity.
