Hurriyat activist held for trying to foment trouble in the valley

Police today arrested one of two activists of the hardline Hurriyat Conference allegedly involved in a conspiracy to engineer violence in the Kashmir Valley and get at least 10 to 15 people killed in a procession.

Police swooped down at a place on Narbal-Magam road and arrested Shabir Ahmed Wani, district President of Hurriyat conference led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani, after his conversation with another activist Ghulam Ahmed Dar was intercepted.

The two were allegedly discussing ways to foment trouble during a procession which was taken out in Budgam district of central Kashmir, official sources said.

Wani was booked under various provisions of the Ranbir Penal Code and may be charged under the stringent Public Safety Act, under which he can be detained for two years, they said, adding the hunt was on to nab Dar, who had gone into hiding immediately after the conversation was made public.

Involvement of hardline separatists in engineering some of the violence in the Kashmir Valley was indicated by the intercepted conversation between the two of them during which they discussed the killing of at least 15 people in a procession near Srinagar on July 7.

A large procession had started in Budgam district on the outskirts of Srinagar in the evening and two senior office-bearers of the hardline Hurriyat faction discussed how to utilise it to create casualties, according to the transcript of the conversation available with the Union Home Ministry.

According to the transcript, one of the office-bearers, Dar, was heard telling Wani, that a procession of nearly 20,000 people had started from Magam and was going towards Budgam and that at least 10 to 15 people should be “martyred” as the crowd moved.

However, the police had dispersed the procession with a mild cane charge and no untoward incident had taken place.