Srinagar, July 27: Police Friday foiled Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front’s protest march against the killing of a youth in Bandipora and arrested its chairman Muhammad Yasin Malik when he tried to proceed towards United Nations office here.
Most of other senior separatist leaders including the chairmen of both factions of Hurriyat Conference- Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Nayeem Ahmad Khan, Shabir Ahmad Shah and Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai were put under house arrest. Police sources said they will continue to remain under house arrest till Saturday evening.
Malik and his party activists were detained by police at Budshah Chowk after they led hundreds of people in a march towards UN office. The other detained JKLF activists include vice-chairman Bashir Ahmad Bhat, Shakeel Ahmad Bakshi and Noor Muhammad Kalwal.
Police used batons to chase away other protesters, leading to brief clashes, but none was injured.
Malik had appealed people to march to the local office of UN at Sonawar to submit a memorandum against the killing of Hilal Ahmad Dar, who fell to the bullets of soldiers in Bandipora.
JKLF has strongly condemned the police action. A JKLF spokesman said the group had planned to submit a memorandum to the UN to seek world attention towards the unresolved Kashmir issue and the "grave human rights violations" being perpetrated on the people of the state. "The killing of Dar is a glaring example of how innocents are being killed by Army with impunity," he said.
Meanwhile, most of the other separatist leaders were put under house arrest.
Sources said that heavy contingents of police arrived at the residences of the separatist leaders Thursday evening and asked them not to leave their homes.
“We were having apprehensions of breach of peace and that is why the separatists were confined to their homes,” a senior police officer said in Srinagar. He added that their house arrest will continue on Saturday. “It will continue till Saturday in view of the strike call,” the officer said.

JKLF MEMORANDUM:
The memorandum that was supposed to be presented to UN is addressed to its Secretary General, and reads: “We the people of Jammu and Kashmir are pained to inform your good self that we as a people are being continuously subjugated by the Indian forces. On the 24th of this month Indian Army brutally killed a young man Hilal Ahmad Dar son of  Ghulam Mohi Ud Din Dar resident Aloosa Bandipora who was only 24. This young man was a poor fellow and was coming back to his home from prayers. He was arrested and killed on the spot by 27 Rashtriya Rifles and to cover this killing, as in the past, Indian Army dubbed this innocent Kashmiri as a militant.”
It adds that the phenomenon of fake encounters, wherein an innocent person is killed and dubbed as a militant, is not new in Kashmir. “For last two decades Indian Army and other forces have been practicing this condemnable act without any check. It is painful to note that world has failed to come to the rescue of Kashmiris and this negative attitude by India and the rest of the world has encouraged these forces. Trigger-happy forces that enjoy constitutional cover like AFSPA can kill anybody without being even questioned.”
Referring to civilian killings in the year 2008, the memorandum reads: ‘Millions of Kashmiris came on to the streets and protested against the Indian rule and inhuman treatment of Kashmiris. It was a peaceful people’s movement. People of Jammu and Kashmir unilaterally chose the path of peace, but their positive gesture again met with brutal force. Indian forces killed hundreds of our men, women and even children. The story was repeated in 2010 again as hundreds fell to the Indian bullets. People were protesting against a fake encounter by Indian Army at Machil, a border village. Three men who were working as potters for the Army were killed in a staged encounter. They were dubbed as foreign militants.”

Lastupdate on : Fri, 27 Jul 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 27 Jul 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 28 Jul 2012 00:00:00 IST