SRINAGAR: Authorities in Kashmir have shifted a senior separatist leader to a prison outside the valley, giving rise to apprehensions that he may have been booked under the Public Safety Act.
Shabir Ahmed Shah, whose Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) is a constituent of separatist alliance Hurriyat Conference (moderates), was arrested by the state police just before Afzal Guru was hanged in Delhi’s Tihar jail on Feb 9.
His party spokesman told freepresskashmir.com that he saw the separatist leader in a police vehicle moving towards Jammu. He said he was told that he will be lodged in the Kot Balwal jail, but was not sure if the leader was booked under the PSA – which provides for detention without trial for at least six months.
Most of the separatist leaders in Kashmir continue to be placed under house arrest or lodged in jails ever since Guru’s execution which caused widespread anger in the valley. Six youth have died during protests ever since, most of them in paramilitary firing.
Why Shah was shifted outside the valley is not clear. Authorities refused to comment.
Another separatist leader Nayeem Ahmad Khan was also arrested and sent to judicial remand by a court just before Guru’s execution.
The leader of the Mirwaiz-led Hurriyat Conference was arrested for a 13 year old case under Section 13 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
The charge-sheet in this case was filed in the court in the year 2008. The court had issued a non bailable warrant against him.
An independent lawmaker from Kashmir, Engineer Abdul Rashid condemned Khan’s arrest saying “this exposed the tall claims made by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and his colleagues that separatists must talk to the Centre government for the resolution of the Kashmir issue.”
“The Chief Minister must explain that as if this is the way to start a meaningful dialogue, which he has been talking often to resolve the Kashmir issue. The government must answer that why is it always in a hurry to suppress Kashmiris by involving them in fake cases?,” he said.
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