NEW DELHI, Feb. 11 (1984) – A militant leader from Kashmir who preached secession from India was executed today. Kashmiri militants who seized and killed an Indian diplomat in Britain last Sunday had demanded his release.
The hanged man, Mohammed Maqbool Butt, 50 years old, was the founder of the Kashmir Liberation Front, which is based in Britain.
The Indian authorities said he organized secessionist groups in Kashmir in the 1960’s.
In one incident, he allegedly shot and killed an Indian intelligence official.
He was captured and sentenced to death but escaped from an Indian jail and fled to Pakistan. He returned to organize secessionist groups in Kashmir in 1976.
His execution brought protests in the part of Kashmir held by Pakistan.
In Indian-held Kashmir, at least 400 people, most of them members of anti-Indian organizations and Moslem fundamentalist groups, were reportedly detained in an effort to avert violence.
