SRINAGAR: Indian police said Friday they have arrested a prominent Kashmiri activist who was this week prevented from traveling to Geneva, where he had been due to brief UN officials on the strife-torn region.
Khurram Pervez was arrested late Thursday after returning to his home in Srinagar, which has been roiled for months by violent protests over the killing of a young militant by Indian soldiers.
Police superintendent Faisal Qayoom confirmed his arrest but did not say what the charges were.
“We are looking into it. For the moment we’ve taken him into custody,” he said.
Pervez’s wife Samina told AFP police had come to the family home late on Thursday to arrest him. He can be held for up to six months without charge under India’s Public Safety Act.
More than 80 people have been killed in Indian-administered Kashmir since the militant leader’s death on July 8, in one of the deadliest bouts of violence since a full-blown armed rebellion was at its peak in the 1990s.
Most have died in clashes between protesters and police and paramilitaries who have fired tear gas and pellet guns at demonstrators.
Authorities this week banned prayers to mark the Eid festival at the main mosque in Srinagar, capital of India’s only Muslim-majority state.
Internet and mobile networks have also been cut off in a bid to prevent a repeat of the protests.
Pervez, coordinator of the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS), was scheduled to brief a UN Human Rights Council session on the situation, but immigration officials blocked him from boarding his flight at Delhi’s main airport.
Both India and neighboring Pakistan lay claim to the whole of the Himalayan territory, which has been divided between the two since they separated seven decades ago.
India arrests Kashmiri activist
India arrests Kashmiri activist
