Police raids to hunt for separatist leaders

By Our Special Correspondent

Srinagar

Aug. 25: The police in Kashmir on Monday again raided private houses in and outside Srinagar in search of Syed Shabir Ahmed Shah, Massarat Aalam, Naeem Ahmed Khan and some other separatist leaders who are evading arrest.

In Jammu and neighbouring areas, clashes broke out between Hindu mobs and the police at half-a-dozen localities during the one-day "wheel jam" campaign called by the Shri Amarnath Yatra Sangharash Samiti, an amalgam of various right-wing political groups and supporting outfits spearheading an agitation for transfer of 40 hectares of forestland to the Amarnath shrine board in the Valley.

The Army has been called out in the border town of Poonch in the aftermath of communal clashes. The highway town of Hira Nagar near Jammu is also under curfew since Saturday. Curfew was clamped on all 10 districts in the Valley's from Sunday morning and thousands of police and CRPF personnel fanned out to enforce it. Also, the Army was called in major towns except Srinagar where the paramilitary BSF was on the job.

Overnight, CRPF men went berserk in several areas, mainly in central Srinagar, damaging window panes of private homes and cars and autorickshaws parked on roadsides, residents alleged. At Hajan, the security forces allegedly barged into a mosque and arrested two persons for broadcasting pro-freedom slogans through its public address system. The mosque suffered damage in firing, witnesses said.

No newspaper could come out in Srinagar on Monday as the security forces have restricted the movement of journalists as well. At least 10 reporters and lensemen were injured on Sunday when attacked by hostile CRPF men across the summer capital. Police inspector Reyaz Ahmed was allegedly beaten up by CRPF men at Rambagh while returning late on Sunday night.