The Srinagar Police have rounded up scores of separatists and ex-terrorists who had assembled in a hotel in the city in a bid to revive Hurriyat Conference and J&K Liberation Front (JKLF).
This was the first attempt to regroup these anti-India and terrorist outfits after August 2019 when top Hurriyat leaders were arrested. The separatist outfit had become defunct after the death of Syed Alishah Geelani.
After conducting the raid, the police late last night confirmed that “a search was conducted on the basis of credible information about the meeting of some ex-terrorists of JKLF & erstwhile separatists in a hotel in Srinagar. They were brought to Kothibagh Police Station for verification. Enquiry has started, prima facie it came out that they were planning to revive JKLF and hurriyat”.
Reports said around 40 separatists, including sons of top Hurriyat leaders, including Maulvi Abbas Ansari’s son Masroor Abbas Ansari, Prof Abdul Gani Bhat’s son Jehangir Ahmad Bhat and ex-JKLF terrorist Yasin Bhat, who had arranged a get-together and lunch at a hotel in Srinagar civil lines, have reportedly been detained. Confirmation of their formal arrest is still not confirmed.
The JKLF was officially banned by the government under the anti-terror law passed in March 2019. Its leader Yasin Malik is lodged in Tihar Jail and facing trial for allegedly shooting down four IAF officers in Srinagar.
Hurriyat leader Moulvi Umar Farooq has been under house arrest in Srinagar since 2019.