BY IANS,
Srinagar : Separatist Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman Muhammad Yasin Malik was arrested along with a group of supporters in the state’s summer capital Friday during a protest march.
The JKLF had announced a protest march Friday from its uptown Maisuma headquarters to the nearby city centre, Lal Chowk. The aim of the marchers was to draw attention to the Kashmir problem, as the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan are set to meet in Islamabad Saturday.
“There can be no fruitful discussion on Jammu and Kashmir unless the the meeting includes people whose political fate has been hanging in balance for 66 years, ever since the partition of the sub-continent.
“We are not against the meeting of the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan, but we demand that the meeting focus on Kashmir, which is the basic human problem that concerns the political destiny of 12 million people.
“It has now become customary for the foreign ministers of the two countries to discuss everything other than the core issue of Kashmir, which can be resolved only through tripartite talks including India, Pakistan and the people of Jammu and Kashmir,” Malik told IANS as he started his protest march after Friday prayers.
Police swung into action and intercepted the march soon after it started from the JKLF headquarters in Maisuma. Malik was arrested along with a few of his supporters, and lodged in the Kothi Bagh police station.
“Prohibitory orders are in place in the city. We have intervened to maintain law and order”, a senior police officer said after Malik’s arrest.