Hurriyat leader Yasin Malik arrested as Kashmiris observe shutdown in IOK

SRINAGAR (KMS) – Indian police arrested Muhammad Yasin Malik during a raid on his party office at Abi Guzar in Srinagar on Monday. He was lodged in Kothi Bagh police station. Before his arrest, Muhammad Yasin Malik participated in the congregational prayers held in the memory of Aali Kadal martyrs at Martyrs’ Graveyard, Eid-Gah in Srinagar. He also participated in a blood donation camp organized by Jammu and Kashmir Liberation at Abi-Guzar in the city. In Indian Occupied Kashmir, a complete shutdown is being observed in Kalaroos, Machil, Rajwar, Ganstan, Nowgam, Sangrama, Wagoora, Kangan and Rathsun and Bijbehara during the second phase of so-called panchayat elections in the territory. The call for the strike was given by the Joint Resistance Leadership comprising Syed Ali Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik. The leadership, in a joint statement issued in Srinagar, asked people to demonstrate total rejection of this futile exercise by staying indoors on the day. The authorities shifted as many as 23 Kashmiri political detainees including ailing senior APHC leader Ghulam Muhammad Khan Sopori from Kotbhalwal and Kathua jails in Jammu to jails in Haryana in India. This was disclosed by Sajjad Ahmad, the son of Ghulam Muhammad Khan Sopori, who citing Kotbhalwal jail administration told media in Srinagar that his father along with 22 other detainees were shifted to Haryana jails overnight. Senior Hurriyat leaders and organizations, including Syed Ali Gilani, Muhammad Yasin Malik and Jamaat-e-Islami in their separate statements, condemned the move and demanded immediate shifting of the detainees to the Valley. Syed Ali Gilani said the transfer of Kashmiri political detainees like ailing Ghulam Mohammad Khan Sopori to Haryana jail is nothing but a clear manifestation of political victimization. Tehreek-e-Hurriyat Jammu and Kashmir chairman Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai, in a statement, paid glorious tributes to the martyrs, Yawar Wani and Nawaz Ahmed, who were killed by Indian troops during a cordon and search operation at Zainapora in Shopian.