The detentions and arrests come two days ahead of the likely hearing of Article 35A in Supreme Court on Monday. | File image

New Delhi: As India awaits the hearing on Article 35A with bated breath, Jammu and Kashmir Police and security forces continued to crack down on Kashmiri separatists in the Valley, with as many as 150 of them being detained till Saturday, media reports said.

In the meantime, security forces kept on conducting nocturnal raids for the second consecutive day in Kashmir and people actively associated with the Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI), besides clerics, were detained from South and North Kashmir.

JeI, which is a part of separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s Tehreek-e-Hurriyat (an umbrella organisation of separatists), in a statement condemning the crackdown on Saturday said the police and other forces launched mass arrest during the intervening night of 22-23 February and raided many houses and dozens of central and district level leaders were arrested. “The move is a well-designed conspiracy to pave way for further uncertainty in the region.”

The overnight raids on Saturday-Sunday saw choppers hovering over Srinagar for the second consecutive night and station house officers across Valley have been told to identify people who have links with Jamaat and Hurriyat and detain them.

The detentions and arrests come two days ahead of the likely hearing of Article 35A in Supreme Court on Monday (February 25). The provision included in the Indian Constitution in 1954 grants special rights and privileges to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

Among those who were detained on Saturday include JeI chief Abdul Hamid Fayaz, Advocate Zahid Ali (spokesperson), Ghulam Qadir Lone (former secretary general), Abdur Rouf (Ameer, Zila Islamabad), Mudasir Ahmad (Ameer, Pahalgam Tehsil), Abdul Salam (Dialgam), Bakhtawar Ahmad (Dialgam), Mohammad Hayat (Tral), Bilal Ahmad (Chadoora), Ghulam Mohammad Dar (Chak Sangran) and dozens more.