Separatist leaders under house arrest

Several top separatist leaders including chairmen of both factions of the Hurriyat Conference were put under house arrest in Srinagar due to violent protests over the custodial death of a youth lask week.

Hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani was not allowed to move out of his Hyderpora residence while the moderate faction's chairman, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was confined to his house at Nigeen, official sources said.

Other leaders who were put under house arrest included Shabi Ahmad Shah, Maulana Masroor Abbas Ansari, Nayeem Ahmad Khan and Shahidul Islam, the sources said.

They said,"The separatist leaders were put under house arrest as their presence at Friday congregations could have led to protests, which sometimes turn violent."

Geelani had called for peaceful protests after the weekly prayers on Friday against alleged human rights violations including the custodial death of Nazim Rashid in Sopore town of Baramulla district on July 31.

The separatist camp expressed resentment at the government's decision to put curbs on their movement on the first Friday of the Islamic fasting month of Ramzan.

"This is interference in our religious matters. Muslims wait for 11 months to be able to observe Ramzan but this government is insensitive to Islamic beliefs," a spokesman of the Geelani-led Hurriyat said.