SRINAGAR, June 12: Several separatist leaders were detained Tuesday as they attempted to lead a protest march against the death of around 120 youth during the summer agitation of 2010 in Kashmir Valley.
Shabir Ahmad Shah, Nayeem Khan, Javed Mir, Zafar Akbar and Yasmeen Raja were detained at the Residency Road here when they were holding a protest, police said.
The separatist leaders carried pictures of teenager Tufail Ahmad Mattoo who was killed when hit by a tear smoke canister fired by a policeman on June 11, 2010.
Matto’s death was followed by a series of protests by hundreds of thousands of people who took to roads chanting slogans against Indian rule in Kashmir. Around 120 people, mostly youth and children, fell to bullets or teargas shells fired by police and paramilitaries during the uprising which lasted for months.
Tuesday, the leader of Muslim Khawateen Markaz, Raja, attempted to hold a sit in when she was detained by women police and bundled into a police vehicle. Shah, Khan, Mir and Akbar were also bundled into police vehicles and taken to nearby police stations.