SRINAGAR: An influential Shia leader and Hurriyat leader Maulana Masroor Abbas Ansari, whose father was a Hurriyat Conference chairman, along with many others were detained by police from a Srinagar hotel on Sunday. Police said prima facie that they were planning to revive the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) and Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF).
A spokesman of Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen in a statement said party chairman Maulana Masroor Ansari was detained along with some others during the Eid Milan (Eid gathering) in Srinagar today.
The Eid Milan was organized at a Srinagar hotel today.
Sources said about 40 people were present in the hotel room when it was raided by police.
Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen was one of the constituent party of the moderate Hurriyat Conference led by cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.
'Deeply Worrisome'
Shia leader and councillor SMC Aga Syed Muhammad Hussaini termed the detention of Molvi Masroor Abbas as deeply worrisome.
“I implore the administration to promptly address this matter and ensure his immediate release, alleviating the concerns of his family, relatives and supporters,” Hussaini tweeted.
Police in the late evening issued a brief statement about the incident.
“A search was conducted on the basis of credible information about the meeting of some ex-trts of JKLF & erstwhile separatists in a hotel in Srinagar (sic),” tweeted Srinagar police.
“They were brought to Kothibagh PS for verification. An inquiry has started, prima facie it came out that they were planning to revive JKLF & Hurriyat,” it further stated.
Masroor Ansari’s father Maulana Abbas Ansari was the former Hurriyat Conference chairman. He died in October last year after a brief spell of illness.
During Abbas Ansari’s tenure as Hurriyat chairman, the Hurriyat leaders had entered into talks with the then National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee.