By IANS
New Delhi : Hundreds of Kashmiri Pandit activists protested here against militant-turned-politician Yasin Malik, who was to speak at a conclave in the capital Saturday.
Police detained at least 10 of the protestors near the conclave venue at Taj Palace and took them to Chanakyapuri police station before releasing them.
The invitation to the chairman of the pro-independent Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front had angered the activists.
Malik was a guest speaker at “Youth Forum – If I Could Change The World”, organised by the India Today media group.
Among others who shared the dais with Malik were Bollywood actor Preity Zinta, politician Sachin Pilot and industrialists Anand Mahindra and Aditya Mittal.
Even inside the venue, a member of the audience objected to Malik’s presence, saying he was a terrorist and shouldn’t be allowed to speak.
Malik is accused of killing Kashmiri Pandits that led to the exodus of around 300,000 of them to other parts of India in 1990.
“Yasin Malik has scores of criminal cases from murder to kidnapping to hawala (money-laundering) racket pending against his name,” said Aditya Raj Koul of the Roots in Kashmir (RIK) that had organised the march.
“Even today he (Malik) had to appear in four TADA related cases, which are under CBI investigation for the last more than 18 years,” Koul told IANS, adding: “Killers cannot be glorified”.
Rashneek Kher of the RIK, who was among the detained activists, said: “We won’t allow a brutal killer to share the stage with the who is who of the world.”
“What will he teach the youth?” Kher asked.t