JKLF chairman who shared stage with 26/11 mastermind returns to Kashmir

Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik was placed under house arrested soon after he arrived in Srinagar from New Delhi on Sunday after spending one and half month in Pakistan.

Malik, who had created a stir in India after 26/11 Mumbai attacks mastermind and Lashkar-e-Tioba founder Hafiz Mohammad Sayeed shared stage with him in Pakistan during his hunger strike, was detained by police at Srinagar airport and taken to his residence at Maisuma where he was placed under house arrest.

Police sources said he was placed under house arrest to prevent him from leading the ongoing agitation in Kashmir.

Malik, who arrived in Delhi on Saturday evening from Pakistan, was heckled by protestors at the airport. Contrary to the reports, he was not questioned by any security agencies neither in Delhi nor in Srinagar.

Scores of Malik’s supporters were waiting to receive him at the gate of Srinagar airport. However they created a scene by raising anti government slogans after learning that police has picked up Malik though it later proved that he was only escorted to his residence to be placed under house arrest.

Malik is the third top separatist leader after Hurriyat hawk Syed Ali Shah Geelani and moderate Hurriyat chief Mirwaiz Umar Farooq who have been placed under house arrest soon after arriving from Delhi following the execution of Afzal Guru on February 9.

JKLF chairman said hotels in Delhi refused to provide him accommodation after he landed in national capital on Saturday. “No hotel allowed me to check in", he said in a statement here.

Malik’s Pakistani wife and daughter had applied for visa which was not granted by New Delhi. “My wife and daughter were not given visa and they could not accompany me”, he said.

JKLF chairman also asked the people to follow the programme of Majlis Mashwarat (advisory council) spearheading the agitation for the return of remains of Afzal Guru and JKLF leader Mohammad Maqbool Bhat who was hanged and buried in Tihar jail in 1984.