APHC leaders put under house arrest in Kashmir

The action has been taken to prevent them from attending the funeral of two civilians, says KMS.

ISLAMABAD: Authorities have taken the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front Chairman, Muhammad Yasin Malik, into custody and placed APHC leaders including Shabbir Ahmed Shah and Nayeem Ahmed Khan under house arrest today.     

According to Kashmir Media Service (KMS), the action has been taken to prevent the leaders from going to the Sumbal area of Bandipora to attend the funeral of two civilians who were killed by Indian troops early this morning.

Indian police arrested Yasin Malik from near Malora when he was on his way to Sumbal. The authorities put Shabbir Shah and Nayeem Khan under house arrest in Srinagar by deploying heavy contingents of police personnel outside their residences.

Veteran Kashmiri Hurriyet leader Syed Ali Gilani is already under house detention.

The police also arrested the member of the Kashmir Assembly, Engineer Abdur Rasheed, near Watlab when he was going to Sumbal lodging him at Handwara Police Station.

Meanwhile, Syed Ali Gilani, Muhammad Yasin Malik, Shabbir Ahmad Shah and Nayeem Ahmad Khan have called for a complete shutdown in the occupied territory tomorrow against the killings.

Civilians Irfan Ahmad Ganai and Irshad Ahmad Dar were killed by troops in the Markundal area of Sumbal, triggering massive demonstrations in the area.

Ghulam Nabi Ganai, father of martyred Irfan Ahmed Ganai, said that his son was innocent and had been killed by the troops without any reason.

He told the media that Irfan had gone to keep watch over his cowshed when the troops hit him with a baton first and then fired two bullets at him, one in the head and the other in his right arm, killing him on the spot.

He said that the troops came in a private vehicle at around 3am.

Ghulam Nabi said that there had already been some incidents of cattle theft in the area because of which the villagers had raised an alarm, not realising that the men were troopers.

After killing Irfan, the troops stood outside the doors of houses shouting and abusing people, warning them not to come out, Ghulam Nabi said.

He said that the locals took to the streets after the incident, after which the troops started firing again, killing another youth, Irshad Ahmed Dar.