India arrests Kashmiri resistance leaders in Srinagar

By Zahid Rafiq

SRINAGAR, and Kashmir

Indian authorities arrested top Kashmiri resistance leaders under house arrest in Srinagar Thursday, a day after they announced their plan to travel to New Delhi.

Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chief Yasin Malik was arrested at Lal chowk, while Hurriyat (M) Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was put under house arrest.

Another resistance leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani is already under house arrest.

"We had already announced to court arrest at NIA [National Investigative Agency] headquarters in New Delhi on September 9, why are we being arrested," Malik questioned at the time of his arrest.

The Joint Resistance Leadership constituting Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik had told media Wednesday that they would participate in the march and court arrest to protest the “harassment” of the resistance leaders by the investigation agency.

While Farooq and Malik were present at the press conference, Geelani, who was under house arrest, addressed the media on phone.

Geelani told the media that the NIA had been “unleashed on the leaders of the local freedom movement” to break the people’s resolve. He added that such tactics would not deter the Kashmiris from seeking their basic right to self-determination.

In July, the NIA had arrested seven people including Shahid ul Islam, the spokesman of Farooq; and Altaf Shah, son-in-law of Geelani.

Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan region, is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full. A small sliver of Kashmir is also held by China.

The two countries have fought three wars -- in 1948, 1965 and 1971 -- since they were partitioned in 1947, two of which were fought over Kashmir.

Kashmiri resistance groups in Jammu-Kashmir have been fighting against Indian rule for independence, or for unification with neighboring Pakistan.

More than 70,000 people have reportedly been killed in the conflict since 1989. India maintains more than half a million troops in the disputed region.