Pulwama Attack: Hurriyat leaders’ security removed after Pulwama attack: Know all about these 5 Kashmiri separatists

Hurriyat leaders’ security removed after Pulwama attack: Know all about these 5 Kashmiri separatists

The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Sunday withdrew the security of five separatists. Security of Hurriyat Conference Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Abdul Ghani Bhat, Bilal Lone, Hashim Qureshi and Shabir Shah has been removed. This came after 42 CRPF personnel were killed on Thursday in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a Jaish suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 80 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district that also left many critically wounded. More than 2,500 Central Reserve Police Force personnel, many of them returning from leave to rejoin duty in the Valley, were travelling in the convoy of 78 vehicles when they were ambushed on the Srinagar-Jammu highway at Latoomode in Awantipora in south Kashmir. "We are issuing orders withdrawing all security and any govt facilities provided to separatist leaders Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Abdul Ghani Bhat, Bilal Lone, Hashim Qureshi and Shabir Shah. All security and any vehicles provided to them will stand withdrawn by today evening,” J&K; government said in a statement. Know all about these 5 Kashmiri separatists

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq is the chairman of Hurriyat Conference and the Awami Action Committee. Umar Farooq has an important religious as well as political role in the Kashmir Valley. He is seen as the spiritual leader of Kashmir’s Muslims. In October 2014, Farooq was listed as one of The 500 Most Influential Muslims by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre, Jordan. At the age of 17, his father was assassinated by unknown gunmen.

Bilal Gani Lone

Bilal Lone is the chairman of J&K; Peoples Independent Movement. He is the son Abdul Ghani Lone who was assassinated on 21 May 2002 while commemorating the twelfth anniversary of the death of Mirwaiz Farooq. The United States condemned the assassination, with Secretary of State Colin Powell issuing a statement recognizing Lone as moderate who sought a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir issue. Earlier, emergence of separatist-turned-pro India leader Sajad Lone prompted his elder brother Bilal Lone to change the name of his faction of Peoples Conference (PC) to Peoples Independent Movement (PIM) to stay course in the separatist camp.

Shabir Shah

Shabir Shah is the founder and president of the Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party (JKDFP), one of the main separatist political organizations seeking "right of self-determination" to Jammu and Kashmir. Having spent 31 years of his life in jails, he has been recognised by Amnesty International as “The Prisoner of Conscience.”

Hashim Qureshi

Hashim Qureshi is the Chairman of Jammu Kashmir Democratic Liberation Party (JKDLP). Hashim along with his cousin Ashraf Qureshi hijacked an Indian Airlines plane on 30 January 1971 (Ganga) en route from Srinagar to Jammu and brought the plane to Lahore, Pakistan. Hashim Qureshi was - 17 years old. The Indian Airlines flight was carrying 30 people including crew members. After landing at Lahore Airport, the hijackers demanded the release of about two dozen political prisoners of the JKNLF in Indian prisons.

Abdul Gani Bhat

Professor Abdul Gani Bhat, is a leader of the Hurriyat Conference's moderate faction. Professor Bhat’s own party Muslim Conference was in trouble recently after his party leaders revolted against his alleged meeting with Centre appointed interlocutor Dineshwar Sharma.