Kashmir unrest: Geelani, Mirwaiz detained while trying to visit Aripanthan

Srinagar: Hurriyat Conference leaders Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq were detained on Friday after they tried to visit Aripanthan village in Budgam district where four persons were killed in CRPF firing on Tuesday.

Geelani was arrested soon after he came out of his Hyderpora residence in Srinagar to offer Friday prayers in Aripanthan, a spokesman of the hardline Hurriyat Conference said.

Mirwaiz, who was carrying a placard which read "stop state terrorism", was also taken into preventive custody when he tried to lead a march to Aripanthan from his Nigeen residence in the outskirts of the city, moderate Hurriyat Conference said in a statement.

The separatist camp, which has been spearheading the ongoing agitation in the Valley, had called for a march to Aripanthan area of Budgam for protesting against the killing of four persons in CRPF firing on August 16.

Meanwhile, the Hazratbal shrine on the banks of Dal Lake here witnessed a protest demonstration shortly after Friday prayers.

Soon after the prayers ended at the shrine, people who had gathered there, shouted slogans to protest the killings in the ongoing unrest and in support of "freedom," officials said.

They said the demonstration later ended peacefully.

While the Friday prayers were held at the shrine, no prayers could be offered at Jamia Masjid, the grand old mosque in downtown Srinagar where Mirwaiz usually delivers the sermons ahead of the prayers, for the sixth consecutive Friday.