A day before Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chairman Yasin Malik's State-wide “jail bharo” programme, the police on Thursday took into custody head of the moderate faction of the Hurriyat Conference Mirwaiz Umar Farooq here.
The arrest took place when he was on his way to the United Nations office to present a memorandum alleging human rights violations in Kashmir. The memorandum highlighted the recent Machil encounter and the killing of 18-year-old Tufail Ahmad Mattoo in police shelling.
The Mirwaiz, along with other leaders, decided to head towards the United Nations Military Observers Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) at Sonwar while attending a seminar on human rights at the Hurriyat's Rajbagh headquarters.
But before the Mirwaiz, accompanied by Abdul Gani Bhat, Nayeem Ahmad Khan, Bilal Gani Lone, Aga Syed Hassan, Zafar Akbar Bhat, Masroor Abbas and scores of party activists, could reach the U.N. office, police arrested them. They were taken to a police station, but released in the evening.
Earlier, the Hurriyat Conference passed a resolution drawing the attention of the United Nations, Amnesty International and the civil society to the “grave human rights violations” in the Kashmir Valley. “We will later send letters to the capitals of all the countries to give them a wake-up call about the genocide happening in the Valley,” the Mirwiaz said. “We will also stage a peaceful sit-in outside the U.N. office.”
Accusing the Union government of hoodwinking the world on the human rights situation in Kashmir, he said the Army was providing misinformation about infiltration bids and presence of militants in the Valley. The intention was to keep the Kashmir pot boiling so that commercial activities continued, he alleged.
The Mirwaiz condemned the killing of Tufail and three Nadihal youths in an alleged fake encounter. He questioned the veracity of the encounters across the LoC.
Meanwhile, the JKLF is giving final touches to its “jail bharo” programme. Its members, according to Mr. Malik, would court arrest from all district headquarters in protest against the “increasing human rights violations” in Kashmir.
