The Delhi Police on Friday detained Kashmiri human rights activist Mohammed Ahsan Untoo when he was about to enter Pakistan High Commission, said officials.
Untoo, who runs an organisation International Forum of Justice and Human Rights, had been invited among others, including separatists, from the militancy-hit Jammu and Kashmir by the High Commission to attend the Pakistan Day.
Separatists from the State, including moderate Hurriyat Conference chairperson Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and others, have been staying away from the function for the last three years. Untoo had recently met jailed JKLF leader Yasin Malik at Kot Balwal jail in Jammu. He has been taking up the cases related to alleged human rights violation at the State Human Rights Commission.
The government on Friday decided to boycott the Pakistan National Day event to be held at its High Commission here as Kashmiri separatist leaders were also invited. India’s representation at the annual event has been at the level of a Union minister.
The decision comes in the wake of heightened tension between the two nuclear-armed neighbours after the Pulwama terror attack and subsequent air strike by India on a training camp of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) in Pakistan’s Balakot on February 26.
Pakistan retaliated the next day by unsuccessfully attempting to target Indian military installations. The JeM had claimed responsibility for the Pulwama attack.
