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Jammu massacre: Hurriyat prevented from taking out protest march

To pre-empt Saturday's protest march by separatist leaders, police swung into action late on Friday evening and placed all senior leaders of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) under house arrest.

The Hurriyat had called for a protest march in Srinagar against the recent killings of 29 civilians in Jammu last week.

Policemen were posted around the homes of Hurriyat chairman Prof Abdul Gani Bhat, former chairman and executive member Moulvi Omar Farooq and senior separatist leader Moulvi Abbas Ansari.

"We were not allowed to come out of our homes," Prof Bhat told rediff.com on phone on Saturday morning.

The authorities had made elaborate security arrangements to maintain law and order.

Scores of Hurriyat supporters who had gathered at the Hurriyat headquarters in Srinagar tried to take out a procession under the leadership of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) vice-president Javed Ahmed Mir.

However, police stopped them from leaving the venue leading to heavy stone-pelting by the protestors.

Police responded by firing tear gas shells and resorted to repeated lathi charges on the demonstrators, who were shouting pro-freedom slogans.

Police reinforcements were rushed to control the situation.

Javed Mir was later detained by the police along with a dozen others and taken to the Rajbagh police station.

In the Lal Chowk area of the city, police detained several veil-clad women shouting pro-freedom slogans and later took them to the Kothibagh police station.

Those arrested on Saturday were not immediately released by the police.

Meanwhile, Prof Bhat indicated that the Hurriyat would not talk to Arun Jaitley, the Centre's new interlocutor on Kashmir.

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