Police detain Kashmiri separatist Geelani
NEW DELHI | Tue Mar 1, 2011 3:05pm IST
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Leading Kashmiri separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani was detained by police in connection with a money laundering case, police said on Tuesday, sparking concerns of protests in the region.
Geelani, a hardliner separatist seen as the face of last summer's violent anti-India demonstrations in the disputed region, was held at the New Delhi airport as he was waiting to board a flight, police said.
"He has been requested to join the investigation," Delhi police spokesman Rajan Bhagat told Reuters. Geelani had earlier been asked not to leave the city until he answered questions over his role in the case.
Geelani's spokesman, based in Srinagar, denied the leader was involved in the case.
"It is unfortunate and undemocratic. They are trying to defame Geelani by implicating him with false charges," Ayaz Akbar, the spokesman, told Reuters.
Kashmir has been uneasily calm after the separatist demonstrations last year which were the largest in decades and which saw more than 100 protesters killed by police bullets.
Peace in Kashmir, which India and Pakistan claim in full but rule in part, is crucial to resolving differences between the nuclear-armed foes who are trying to restart a peace process that New Delhi broke off in 2008 after the Mumbai attacks.
New Delhi accuses Pakistan of aiding and funding separatists and militants, a charge Islamabad denies.
The two nations have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir. Washington hopes peace will mean Pakistan could move troops from its eastern frontier with India to its western borders to aid the battle against militants in Afghanistan.
(Reporting by C.J. Kuncheria and Sheikh Mushtaq in SRINAGAR)
Police detain Kashmiri separatist Geelani | Reuters
NEW DELHI | Tue Mar 1, 2011 3:05pm IST
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Leading Kashmiri separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani was detained by police in connection with a money laundering case, police said on Tuesday, sparking concerns of protests in the region.
Geelani, a hardliner separatist seen as the face of last summer's violent anti-India demonstrations in the disputed region, was held at the New Delhi airport as he was waiting to board a flight, police said.
"He has been requested to join the investigation," Delhi police spokesman Rajan Bhagat told Reuters. Geelani had earlier been asked not to leave the city until he answered questions over his role in the case.
Geelani's spokesman, based in Srinagar, denied the leader was involved in the case.
"It is unfortunate and undemocratic. They are trying to defame Geelani by implicating him with false charges," Ayaz Akbar, the spokesman, told Reuters.
Kashmir has been uneasily calm after the separatist demonstrations last year which were the largest in decades and which saw more than 100 protesters killed by police bullets.
Peace in Kashmir, which India and Pakistan claim in full but rule in part, is crucial to resolving differences between the nuclear-armed foes who are trying to restart a peace process that New Delhi broke off in 2008 after the Mumbai attacks.
New Delhi accuses Pakistan of aiding and funding separatists and militants, a charge Islamabad denies.
The two nations have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir. Washington hopes peace will mean Pakistan could move troops from its eastern frontier with India to its western borders to aid the battle against militants in Afghanistan.
(Reporting by C.J. Kuncheria and Sheikh Mushtaq in SRINAGAR)
Police detain Kashmiri separatist Geelani | Reuters
