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New Delhi: The Jammu and Kashmir government Sunday withdrew the security cover provided to separatist leaders.

The security cover has been removed from Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, chairman of the moderate faction of the Hurriyat Conference, as well as from Abdul Gani Bhat, Bilal Lone, Hashim Qureshi and Shabir Shah.

The state is currently under President’s Rule after the assembly was dissolved by governor Satya Pal Malik.

A Hurriyat spokesperson said the leaders would not be impacted by the withdrawal as they had not asked for the security cover in the first place and it was the government that had insisted on the protection.

Links to ISI & terror organisations

The move comes after union home minister Rajnath Singh said that some J&K leaders had “links” with Pakistan’s ISI and terrorist organisations. “I have asked the state administration to review the security cover provided to these elements,” he had said after the meeting in Srinagar Friday.

The decision to send Singh to Srinagar to hold an all-party meeting was taken by the Cabinet Committee on Security chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday, a day after 40 CRPF personnel were killed in a deadly terror attack carried out by the Jaish-e-Mohammad.

Also read: India begins diplomatic offensive to isolate Pakistan

Separatists had urged govt to ‘resolve Kashmir dispute’

Separatist leaders Mirwaiz, Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Yasin Malik had condemned the attack in a joint statement, saying they “regret every killing that happens on (Kashmir’s) soil”, and that they “understand the pain and sense of loss that the family and friends of those who got killed”.

The leaders added that “delay in the resolution of the Kashmir dispute, the denial to engage with the sentiments and aspirations of the people of J&K, and instead the use of a muscular military approach to counter an essentially political and human problem, is wreaking havoc in Kashmir, especially on our next generation, and consuming them”.

They added that those who are deployed to execute these policies in the Valley were also under “stress and paying a price with their lives”.

Urging the government of India to resume its peace dialogue with Pakistan, the separatist leaders had said: “If this death dance has to stop, if hatred and revenge has to stop, if killing and counter-killings have to stop and if we really want peace in the region, we have to put an end to hostilities. And the most effective and civilised manner to do so is to reach out and engage and listen to the concerns of all three stakeholders and address them in the spirit of humanity and justice. Resolve the Kashmir dispute for all times.”

Also read: India won’t find it easy to isolate Pakistan diplomatically, at least not at the moment

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