Separatist leader Shabir Shah detained in Delhi

Shah, who parted ways with moderate faction of Hurriyat Conference previous year and formed a separate unit, was not allowed to go for Friday prayers, a spokesman of Shah’s party said.

India and Pakistan talks must go on, said Jammu and Kashmir separatist leader Shabir Shah on Saturday as he left for Delhi to attend Pakistan National Security Advisor Sartaj Aziz’s reception party on Sunday.

But as uncertainty loomed large earlier in the day with the two sides passing the buck on to each other to call off the talks, all the four separatists were put under house arrest in the capital, official sources said.

The leaders were detained at the New Delhi airport and placed under house arrest at rented accommodations in the capital city. Bilal refused to make any comments about his detention.

The detention came well ahead of security talks between India and Pakistan and was seen as India’s efforts to prevent separatists from meeting Aziz.

Even as India was considering various options in the wake of Pakistan High Commissioner’s invite to separatist leaders, Islamabad maintained that consultations with them were a “routine matter” and a “long standing practice”.

Talking to KMS over phone just before his arrest, Shabbir Ahmed Shah said that the increasing popularity of the Kashmir liberation movement and Pakistan’s support to the Kashmir cause had frustrated the Indian government. “Today we are going to ask the people of India whether former Indian Prime Minister A B Vajpayee, their leader L K Advani or Manmohan Singh were wrong”.

“Kashmir is an important issue…Pakistan’s stand is clear”.

However, in the last lines both have said that they would continue with the talks and remained committed to the scheduled discussion.

“Shabir Ahmad Shah along with his two supporters and Bilal Lone have been detained on their arrival in New Delhi“, a separatist leader told Xinhua. “India can also put forward its argument but Kashmir must be included”. Shah had come to Delhi with his two associates for a proposed meeting with Pakistan National Security advisor Sartaj Aziz, who is scheduled to reach Delhi on Sunday.

Several other separatist leaders – Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Showkat Bakshi, Ghulam Rasool Eidi and Syed Ali Geelani – plan to fly to New Delhi to meet Aziz.