Policemen block the road to Hurriyat Conference chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s residence at Hyderpora in Srinagar on Monday. Tribune Photo: Amin War

The police detain JKLF chairman Yasin Malik while he was going for a separatist meeting in Srinagar on Monday. PTI

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, June 5

Three key separatist leaders, whose close associates have come under the National Investigation Agency (NIA) radar, called for protests later this week as their meeting to discuss the raids by the agency was foiled by the police.Separatist leaders Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik in their joint statement called for protests later on Friday against the NIA raids on residences of separatists and several high-profile businessmen. The trio described the raids as “witch-hunt, coercion and intimidation”.The separatists, who refer to themselves as the “joint resistance leadership”, said peaceful protests would be held after Friday prayers against the raids and the “high-decibel vilification campaign”.The separatist camp has been under intense pressure following a series of raids which targeted close associates of Geelani, Mirwaiz and Malik.During the past two days, the NIA raided 33 locations in the state, New Delhi and Haryana. The NIA has been probing the funding to separatists to fuel unrest in the Valley.Rattled by the unrelenting raids, the separatists had attempted to meet today but their meeting was foiled by the police. Geelani’s residence, where the meeting was scheduled to take place, was sealed off by the police while Mirwaiz was detained at his house and Yasin was arrested from his residence.“We had a meeting at Geelani’s residence but the situation is such that we are not allowed to meet. This is the state’s bankruptcy and its oppression,” Yasin told reporters outside his Maisuma residence. He was arrested moments later and shifted to a nearby police station.Yasin Malik said the NIA’s “fear will not weaken this movement”.The separatist leaders under the NIA lens include Geelani’s son-in-law and Hurriyat leader Altaf Shah, close associate Mehraj Kalwal and spokesman Ayaz Akbar, and Mirwaiz’s close associate Shahid-ul-Islam.Hoteliers turn to govt over ‘false reporting’Srinagar: The J&K Hoteliers Club (JKHC) on Monday urged the government to take note of the “false reporting” during the recent raids conducted by the NIA. JKHC secretary general Tariq Rashid Ghani said the club held a meeting where it condemned a false news item on one of the news channels that stated that the residence of JKHC chairman Mushtaq Ahmad Chaya had been raided by the NIA. Urging the government to take notice, the JKHC said the NIA did not conduct raids at Mushtaq Chaya’s residence and the particular news story appeared to have been flashed at the “behest of certain vested interests”. Geelani’s residence sealed off

• Rattled by the unrelenting raids, the separatists had attempted to meet on Monday but their meeting was foiled by the police
• Hurriyat hardliner Syed Ali Geelani’s residence, where the meeting was scheduled to take place, was sealed off by the police while Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was detained at his house and Yasin Malik was arrested from his residence