Geelani arrested to foil his Kulgam march in Kashmir

Srinagar, Nov 6 : Chairman of the breakaway Hurriyat Conference (HC) Syed Ali Shah Geelani was arrested to thwart his march to Kulgam in south Kashmir where he was scheduled to address a public meeting after Friday prayers.

Kulgam district observed a complete shutdown on Mr Geelani's call in protest against the alleged illegal occupation of lakhs of kanals of land by the security forces in the state.

A spokesman of the Hurriyat Aiyaz Akbar told UNI today that Mr Geelani has been lodged in police station Humhama on Srinagar-Airport road in the central Kashmir district of Badgam.

He said as soon as Mr Geelani left his Hyderpora residence yesterday afternoon for Kulgam, he was put in a police vehicle and later taken to police station.

The Hurriyat chairman was scheduled to address a public meeting at Kulgam this afternoon.

He said president of the Kulgam district of the amalgam Mohammad Shaban was also arrested by the police and houses of several other senior leaders were raided during the night.

However, he said, the public meeting will be held as per schedule in the town which has observed a complete shutdown.

Mr Aiyaz said a contempt petition has been filed in the Jammu and Kashmir High Court against the police and local administration for defying the court direction which clearly declared Mr Geelani a free man.

The court has directed police and administration not to put any restrictions on the free movement of Mr Geelani, who remained mostly under house arrest and in jails since he returned from Delhi after his treatment in March this year.

The High Court and other lower courts quashed his detention about half a dozen times but each time he was arrested.

However, he was released finally from the sub jail at Cheshmani on the High Court orders last month. But he remained mostly under house arrest since then also.

Mr Geelani was arrested a day before the public meeting at Kulgam because he had given a slip to police and addressed meetings at Shopian and Bandipora on two previous Fridays.

--UNI

(c) 2009 Published with permission from United News of India.
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