Indian police arrest Kashmiri separatist leader

Indian police arrested the leader of a Kashmiri separatist group today, a day after they detained a woman with £70,000 (€113,000) in cash allegedly intended for him, officers said.

More than 100 officers ringed the office where Yasin Malik, leader of the Jammu-Kashmir Liberation Front, was holding a news conference. The JKLF is a former militant group that laid down its arms and became a political party.

Police threw tear gas at about 60 of Malik’s supporters who tried to prevent them from taking him to Srinagar, summer capital of Kashmir.

K Rajendra Kumar, inspector-general of police, said Malik was arrested under anti-terrorism laws and the Foreign Exchange Movement Act.

It was not immediately clear what charges he would face, but he could be accused of intending to receive money illegally brought into the country to fund anti-India activity. Malik denied the money was intended for him.

More than a dozen militant groups have been fighting since 1989 for Kashmir’s independence or its merger with Islamic Pakistan. India and Pakistan have fought two wars over the mainly Muslim Himalayan province.