Hurriyat Conference leaders Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Bilal Lone were on Thursday manhandled allegedly by activists of right-wing Hindu organisations and Kashmiri Pandits at a seminar here after which police detained ten people.
Commotion broke out when the activists from among the audience charged at Mr. Farooq, who was seated on the dais along with Mr. Lone. At that time, a person, believed to be a journalist, had got up to put a question to the Mirwaiz.
During the pandemonium, some of the activists manhandled the two separatist leaders, eyewitnesses said, adding police immediately stepped in and cordoned off the dais.
The eyewitnesses said that in the melee, the activists punched Mr. Farooq, who fell from his chair.
Police said it has taken at least ten people into custody.
The incident comes over a month after a shoe was thrown at hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani during a seminar in Delhi on October 21. The shoe missed Mr. Geelani, who was seated on the dais. The seminar had also witnessed protests by a group of people, including Kashmiri Pandits.
Commenting on the incident, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said, “It is a reaction to their politics and policies. And it is bound to happen. I don’t condone it... I believe it is a battle of ideas and ideologies.”
At Thursday’s seminar, the activists also smashed window panes and flower pots at the Kisan Bhawan auditorium following which police took the Hurriyat leaders to safety.
The seminar was on ‘Kashmir Problems in Reference to Indo-Pak Relations’, organised by Internationalist Democratic Party of Jammu and Kashmir.
The seminar resumed after the police brought the situation under control.
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