Yaseen Malik released from house arrest

Authorities today lifted restrictions on the movement of the pro-independence Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) leader  Mohammad Yaseen Malik, who has been under house arrest here for the past three months.
 
A police party deployed at his Maisuma residence of Malik since April 23 was withdrawn this morning and within hours of his release the separatist leader left for Handwara in Kupwara district of North Kashmir to meet the people affected by a storm there, officials said.
      
A woman was killed and hundreds of structures were damaged in Handwara township, 80 kms from here, last evening as high speed wind uprooted trees and electric poles.
      
JKLF spokesman Altaf Khan said after lifting of restrictions Malik, alongwith 13-member party team, left for Handwara.
      
Malik was placed under house arrest on April 23, two days after he kickstarted the party's an anti-election campaign in Pulwama district of South Kashmir.
 
He was briefly released at the end of five-phased parliamentary elections in May but was placed under house arrest again following protests over alleged human rights violations.