Srinagar, Oct 19 (IANS) Syed Ali Geelani, hardline separatist leader and chairman of the breakaway Hurriyat group, Monday announced a protest against the “occupation of land” by the army in Jammu and Kashmir.
Addressing a press conference here, Geelani said: “I shall be announcing a detailed protest programme against the occupation of land by the Indian Army in Kashmir on Oct 23 at Shopian town.

“This strategy is followed by India on the lines of Israel’s occupation of lands in Palestine and we have decided to protest it,” he said.

He did not detail his charges.

Geelani repeatedly avoided answering questions regarding the proposed dialogue between the Kashmiri separatist leaders and the central government.

Interestingly, fearing arrest by police, Geelani arrived at the venue of press conference in an autorikshaw. Police arrested four of his slogan-shouting supporters outside the hotel where the leader addressed the media.

Meanwhile, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, the chairman of the moderate Hurriyat group, said he would be taking up the issue of the detention of two Kashmiri cricket players in Bangalore during his expected talks with the central government.