Yasin Malik placed under house arrest on Srinagar return

Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman Muhammad Yasin Malik said he was placed under house arrest Sunday immediately after his arrival in Srinagar.

A posse of local police detained Malik at the Srinagar International Airport and escorted him to his Maisuma residence in the city.

This was the first time Malik came to Srinagar after the hanging of parliament attack convict Afzal Guru Feb 9.

In Pakistan to visit his wife and daughter, he had been caught up in controversy following the presence of Jamaat-ud-Dawa and 26/11 attack accused chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed at a JKLF function in Pakistan which Malik had attended.

Speaking to media persons at his home, Malik clarified that he had been to Pakistan on a personal visit to meet his wife and daughter.

"I was in Pakistan when I learnt about Afzal's hanging in Tihar jail. Afzal's hanging was the murder of justice and the judicial process. I sat on a 24-hour-long hunger strike to attract international attention towards the plight of Kashmiris and the denial of a fair trial to Afzal Guru."

"During a JKLF function, which was attended by many people, Hafeez Muhammad Saeed also came there," he said alleging that Saeed's presence was highlighted in order to divert world attention from the happenings in Kashmir.

Malik also said that if the authorities had decided to arrest him in Delhi after his arrival from Pakistan, there would have been nothing new in that.

"There is hardly a prison in India where I have not been detained in," he said.