World | India
Police arrest separatist leaders using security law
Police arrested three key separatist leaders in Jammu and Kashmir yesterday under a tough security law that allows detention for up to two years without trial, triggering clashes with hundreds of Muslim protesters, officials said.
- AP
- Published: 22:58 November 1, 2008
Srinagar: Police arrested three key separatist leaders in Jammu and Kashmir yesterday under a tough security law that allows detention for up to two years without trial, triggering clashes with hundreds of Muslim protesters, officials said.
Police and soldiers fired tear gas and swung batons to disperse the angry protesters, who hurled rocks at them, said Prabhakar Tripathi, a spokesman for the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
The separatist leaders - Mohammad Yasin Malek, Gulam Nabi Sumji and Moulvi Showkat - were arrested for opposing elections scheduled to start later this month to choose a new government in the Indian-administered region, a police officer said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to reporters. The separatists oppose Indian rule in the Muslim-majority region.
They were arrested under the Public Safety Act, which authorises police to detain people for up to two years without trial.
Police had held the separatist leaders under house arrest for several weeks following earlier protests against Indian rule.
Street protests
As news of the separatist leaders' arrests spread in Srinagar, the region's largest city, hundreds of Kashmiris took to the streets chanting "We want freedom" and "Release our leaders."
"An anti-election campaign is a democratic right and our arrest yet again proves as sham the tall claims of India's democracy," Malek told reporters as he was being taken to prison.
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