Separatists now resort to novel means of protest in Kashmir

Srinagar, Sep 11 (UNI) In a novel way to press for their demands, the activists of the moderate Hurriyat Conference today tried to take out a cycle rally to the office of the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) here.

However, they were stopped and arrested on way.

The activists of the Jammu and Kashmir Salvation Movement (JKSM), a part of the Mirwaiz Umar Farooq-led moderate Hurriyat Conference, gathered at the Press Enclave here this morning to proceed to the UNMOGIP office for submitting a memorandum to the United Nations Secretary General.

However, as the JKSM activists, led by Chairman Zaffar Akbar Bhat, were marching on cycles toward the UNMOGIP office here, police stopped them at the busy Regal Chowk. They were then detained at the Kothi Bagh police station here.

As Abdul Rasheed, a passerby put it, the JKSM activists might have drawn inspiration from the 'mashaal (torch)' rally of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) as part of its safar-e-azadi (journey to freedom).

The march, led by JKLF chairman Yasin Malik, began from Kokernag in Ananatnag district on May 20 and moved across the nook and corner of the Kashmir valley to culminate at Soura near here last night.

In the memorandum, Bhat demanded release of all political detainees from different jails of the country besides repealing the controversial Armed Forces (Special) Powers Act (AFSPA).

He also called for stopping ''unnecessary'' frisking, crackdowns and identification parades in the Kashmir valley. Bhat asked the government to clear all doubts in the minds of the families of disappeared persons as they have been waiting for quite a long time to know the whereabouts of their kin.

He further demanded withdrawal of security forces from busy market places in the entire state.

Bhat also sought immediate necessary steps to restore the stalled dialogue process with the moderate Hurriyat Conference, aimed at finding a peaceful and long-lasting settlement of the Kashmir issue.

The Jammu and Kashmir Salvation Movement sought the intervention of the UN in compelling India to take these steps and thus avoid ''war'' and save Asia and its growing economy from ''catastrophe''.

UNI