Hurriyat activists taken into preventive custody

Hurriyat Conference activists were taken into preventive custody when they were on their way to Pattan assembly constituency.

As many as 25 activists of the Syed Ali Shah Geelani-led faction of Hurriyat Conference were on Tuesday taken into preventive custody when they were on their way to Pattan assembly constituency for an anti-poll campaign, official sources said.

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Senior leaders Ghulam Nabi Sumji, Mohammad Saleem Zargar, Mohammad Shafi Lone, Abdul Khaliq Bhat, Mohammad Yousuf Mir and Mohammad Yaseen Itai were detained by police at Mirgund on the Srinagar-Baramulla road this morning, the sources said.

By-polls are being held in Pattan along with Rafiabad and Sangrama assembly constituencies in Baramulla district and Bhaderwah in Doda district on April 24.

The sources said the Hurriyat activists would be let off later in the day.

Besides Hurriyat Conference, several other separatist organisations including Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front headed by Mohammad Yaseen Malik have launched an anti-poll campaign in the state.

The separatists, who have given a call for boycotting the polls, claim that elections are not a solution to the Kashmir issue.