ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI: Outlawed Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed on Friday admitted that his organization helps the Pakistani army in "waging jihad" in Jammu and Kashmir.

During a TV interview on Friday, Hafiz Saeed said: "We support the Pakistani government and Pakistan army in their efforts to help the people of Kashmir. And, we call it jihad."

Hafiz Saeed was speaking on the issue of arrest of separatist Masarat Alam by the J&K government.

On Friday, separatist leader Masarat Alam Bhat was arrested on sedition charges from his home in Habbakadal area of the city, apparently after the Centre pushed for it.

READ ALSO: ​ 7-day police custody for Masarat Alam

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One killed in Kashmir protests

Meanwhile, protests in Kashmir are continuing on Saturday against the killing of a youth in an Army operation at Tral in south Kashmir's Pulwama district early this week.

A youth was killed and two others injured allegedly in CRPF firing on demonstrators in central Kashmir's Budgam district on Saturday, police said.

A police spokesman said that preliminary inquiry into the Saturday's incident indicated that the forces have allegedly acted in violation of the laid down standard operating procedures (SOPs).

He said a case under various sections of the RPC, including 302 (murder), has been registered in police station Magam.

"We regret the unfortunate incident and extend our sympathies to the bereaved family," the spokesman said.

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq placed under house arrest

Authorities on Saturday placed several separatists, including moderate Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, under house arrest even as a strike called by hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani over killing of a youth in an Army operation earlier this week evoked a partial response in some parts of Kashmir.

In view of the strike call, shops, business establishments, educational institutes and petrol pumps were shut in and around Lal Chowk city centre but most of them were open in the civil lines areas of the city as well as in other major towns of the valley, the officials said.

They said while public transport was sparse, private vehicles, cabs and auto-rickshaws plied normally.

(With inputs from agencies)

