The Hindu : Yaseen Malik held under POTO

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 26, 2002

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Yaseen Malik held under POTO

By Shujaat Bukhari

SRINAGAR, MARch 25. Amid high drama at the headquarters of the All-Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC), police today arrested its senior leader and JKLF chairman, Yaseen Malik, while he was addressing a press conference denying his "involvement" with two persons arrested on Sunday with $1 lakh in their possession.

Mr. Malik has been arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance (POTO). Police later used teargas shells to disperse people who protested against the arrest.

Even as Mr. Malik was addressing the press conference, a police party led by the Station House Officer, Rajbagh, entered the conference hall and asked him to stop talking to the press. "You are under arrest," the SHO told Mr. Malik.

However, Mr. Malik said, "I will first talk to them and then come with you." This led to a verbal duel, with Mr. Malik's supporters raising slogans such as "We want freedom" and "Police hai hai". The JKLF vice chairman, Javed Mir, and other activists did not allow the police to take Mr. Malik away and he continued his address to the presspersons.

Condemning the Government for "highhandedness", Mr. Malik said it was frustrated with the organisation's announcement of constituting an election commission to prove its representative character. "We have rejected the Government's election proposal, that is why they are perturbed and have been trying to find an excuse to implicate me in false cases."

Denying his involvement with Shazia Begum and Mushtaq Ahmed Dar, who were arrested on Sunday near Udhampur — police said they were carrying $1 lakh and Rs. 18,000 to be delivered to Mr. Malik through hawala channels — Mr. Malik said, "If it is proved that Shazia Begum has seen me, let alone talked to me, I will quit the movement and am ready for any punishment." He also denied that the Pakistan-based spokesman of the JKLF, Altaf Qadri, who was reported to have handed over the money to Shazia Begum in Kathmandu, had been to Nepal in the last seven years. "I challenge Mr. Suri (the State DGP) to prove the allegations," he said.

Mr. Malik also refuted the allegation that Dar was the JKLF spokesman. "I have been inactive for the last one-and-a-half years and was operated thrice in the U.S. So the Government had no ground to arrest me."

However, before Mr. Malik could complete his submissions, another police party led by a Deputy Superintendent of Police stormed the office and asked him to stop. Again, a scene was created, with Mr. Malik's supporters objecting to the police action. Mr. Malik was later dragged by the policemen and bundled into a waiting vehicle. As the vehicle sped away, Hurriyat activists shouted slogans and threw stones at the police, who burst teargas shells.

Order was later restored in the area. But in the Maisuma locality of the city, where Mr. Malik lives, the news was received with panic.

Angry youth took to the streets and started throwing stones. Police resorted to a lathicharge and burst dozens of teargas shells. Shops were closed and pitched battles between police and the mob took place.

The Inspector General of Police, Kashmir zone, K. Rajindra, told The Hindu that Mr. Malik had been arrested under POTO and the Foreign Exchange Movement Act (FEMA). A case had been registered and Mr. Malik was being handed over to the Udhampur police. The IGP, Jammu zone, Pitamber Lal Gupta, said that both Shazia and Dar had been shifted to the Joint Interrogation Centre in Jammu.

UNI reports:

Police also raided the office and house of Mr. Malik and seized his passport and office records. A JKLF spokesman said that the organisation had given a call for a general strike on Wednesday to protest the arrest of Mr. Malik. The APHC has also condemned the arrest.

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