Separatist Yasin Malik held, claims JKLF

Separatist JKLF leader Mohammad Yasin Malik was on Monday arrested by the police and moved to the central jail here as a preventive measure, his organisation claimed.

"Police today cordoned the residence of Malik and arrested him. He was immediately moved to the central jail, Srinagar," a JKLF spokesman said in a statement.

He said that several JKLF activists including Bashir Ahmad Rather, Ghulam Geelani Rather, Fayaz Ahmad Mir and Mushtaq Ahmad Wani were already in police custody.

The spokesman claimed that the arrest was carried out in the wake of a strike called by separatists.

A blanket ban on the peaceful political activities of eparatist leaders, arresting Malik and placing Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq under house arrest has become a common practice, he alleged.

PTI