By IANS,
Srinagar : Senior separatist leaders, including head of the moderate faction of the Hurriyat Conference Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, were Friday placed under house arrest to avoid “law and order problems”, police in this summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir said.
While the Mirwaiz was restrained by security forces from moving out of his Nageen residence, Syed Ali Geelani, chief of the hardline faction of the Hurriyat, was placed under house arrest in his uptown Hyderpora residence.
The movements of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Muhammad Yasin Malik and National Front’s Nayeen Khan were also restricted.
Protests by separatists after the Friday prayers in Srinagar and other major towns of the valley are virtually a weekly affair and often turn violent.
The Mirwaiz Thursday announced his group’s decision to call for a poll boycott while the JKLF and the Geelani group of the Hurriyat have already asked the locals not to participate in the Lok Sabha elections here.
“Miscreants usually resort to heavy stone pelting at the security forces and try to create law and order problems for the peace loving citizens. Our purpose is to prevent the miscreants from hijacking the normal activities of the law abiding citizens here,” a police official said.