Over 70 held in crackdown on separatists in J & K

In a crackdown on separatists,Jammu and Kashmir police on Thursday arrested over 70 people for allegedly funding and fomenting trouble in the state.

In a crackdown on separatists,Jammu and Kashmir police on Thursday arrested over 70 people,including Shabir Ahmad Shah,for allegedly funding and fomenting trouble in the state.

With a near curfew-like situation pervailing in the valley after the death of a boy on Sunday,a major crackdown began in the wee hours of the morning when Shabir Shah,his one time aide Nayeem Khan and Basharat,who claimed to be orchestrating stone-pelting,were arrested,official sources said.

Additional police forces were deployed outside the residence of moderate Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and his movement restricted,the sources said. He was to attend the fourth day ceremony of seventh class student Wamik Farooq Wani who was killed on Sunday when a tear gas shell badly injured him during a protest rally.

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Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) Shabir Ahamd Shah and Chairman of National Front Nayeem Ahmad Khan were immediately shifted to Udhampur jail. Firdous Shah,a close aide of separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani,was picked up by the police for his alleged involvement in organizing stone-pelting in the valley,the sources said,adding more leaders would be picked up.

Vested interests were pumping money in lakhs to sponsor the stone-pelting incidents,the sources said. Some separatist leaders are likely to be booked under Public Security Act.

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