Separatist leaders held for J&K violence

In a crackdown on separatists, the Jammu and Kashmir police on Thursday arrested over 70 people, for allegedly funding and fomenting trouble in the state.

With a near curfew-like situation prevailing in the Valley after the death of a boy on Sunday, a major crackdown began in the wee hours of today morning when separatist leaders Shabir Shah and Nayeem Khan were arrested, official sources said.

Additional police forces were deployed outside the residence of moderate Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and his movement was restricted, the sources said. Farooq was scheduled to attend the fourth day funeral ceremony of Wamik Farooq Wani, who was killed on Sunday when a tear gas shell badly injured him during a protest rally.

Democratic Freedom Party leader Shabir Ahamd Shah and Chairman of National Front Nayeem Ahmad Khan were immediately shifted to Udhampur jail. Firdous Shah, a close aide of separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, was picked up by the police for his alleged involvement in organising stone-pelting in the valley, the sources said, adding more leaders would be detained.

Some separatist leaders are likely to be booked under the Public Security Act, sources said.