Geelani, Mirwaiz defy house arrest in Srinagar

Separatist leaders Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umer Farooq were on Friday detained after they defied house arrest while Yasin Malik was arrested for trying to take out a march in Shopian town against civilian killings in the Kashmir Valley.

Immediately after the arrest of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) leader, clashes erupted in Shopian between stone-pelting youths and security forces.

The separatist Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) headed by Hurriyat leaders Geelani, Umer Farooq and Malik had called for a protest march to express solidarity with the families of the five civilians killed in Shopian district since January 24.

Authorities had imposed restrictions in Srinagar and Shopian to foil the protest. Prohibitory orders banning the assembly of five or more people were clamped in Rainawari, Nowhatta, M.R. Gunj, Safakadal, Khanyar, Maisuma and Kralkhud in Srinagar.

Similar restrictions were also imposed in Shopian town.

Umer Farooq defied his house arrest when he came out of his Nigeen residence on Srinagar to march to Shopian. Police detained him and shifted him to a police station.

Geelani, who has been detained in his house for nearly one year, also came out of his uptown Hyderpora residence to move towards Shopian.

Police and the Central Reserve Police Force restrained Geelani from moving any further.

Malik managed to reach Shopian town led the protest march after congregational prayers at the Shopian Jamia Masjid. He was arrested some distance from the mosque.

Three civilians were killed in Army firing in Ganowpora village on January 27 when a stone-pelting mob attacked a military convoy in the village.

A 10-year-old boy died in a hospital on Thursday after he was injured in an explosion on January 25 during a debris clearing operation in Shaigam village.

Another civilian was killed on January 24 in fighting between security forces and militants, also in Shaigam village.

Security personnel were deployed in large numbers to maintain law and order in sensitive areas in Srinagar's old city area and in south Kashmir's Shopian town.

--IANS

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