SRINAGAR DEC 10: Former JKLF chief Javaid Ahmad Mir and another former leader of the banned outfit, Shakeel Ahmad Bakshi, have been arrested in connection with a nearly 29-year-old militancy-related case in Srinagar.
According to police, Mir, also known as Javaid Nalka and a resident of Zaina Kadal, was taken into custody by Shergarhi Police for his alleged role in a 1996 case registered at Police Station Shergarhi. He is an accused in FIR No. 192/1996, booked under multiple sections of the Ranbir Penal Code, the Arms Act, and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, linked to an incident on 17 July 1996.
Police said Mir is currently lodged at Police Station Shergarhi, where further legal formalities are in progress. Before joining separatist politics, he served as commander-in-chief of the JKLF in the early 1990s.
Bakshi, who was arrested from the Bemina area of Srinagar, is the founder of the Islamic Students League and later joined JKLF before parting ways with it. Both Mir and Bakshi are accused of leading a large funeral procession in July 1996, during which mourners carrying the body of militant Hilal Ahmad Beigh allegedly clashed with police at Naaz Crossing in Srinagar.
The crowd is alleged to have resorted to stone-pelting, rioting and raising anti-India slogans, causing injuries to police personnel and damaging public property. The then SHO of Shergarhi reportedly tried to disperse the mob but was met with resistance, with Mir and Bakshi, along with leaders such as Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Abdul Gani Lone, Shabir Shah, Mohammad Yaqoob Vakil and Nayeem Ahmad Khan, accused of instigating the protesters and violating provisions of the penal law, UAPA and the Arms Act.
While Geelani, Lone and Vakil have since died, Shabir Shah and Nayeem Khan are currently lodged in Tihar Jail in separate NIA cases. The latest arrests are expected to inject fresh momentum into the long-pending case, which authorities now aim to take to its logical conclusion after completion of due legal procedures.
