Shaheen booked for challenging accession

SRINAGAR — The General Secretary of High Court Bar Association (HCBA), G N Shaheen, has been detained for challenging accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India and instigating violence in Kashmir.

On July 17, Shaheen, who had led a protest demonstration here in support of the demand for release of Bar president Mian Abdul Qayoom, was arrested from Lethpora, 25km from here and shifted to District Jail, Rajouri.

Subsequently, the District Magistrate Srinagar Mehraj Ahmad Kakroo issued orders of his detention under Public Safety Act and confinement in Rajouri jail. Kakroo, in the detention orders, said Shaheen was a secessionist element and affiliated with Muslim Conference, a constituent of Hurriyat Conference (G) faction.

“You have been found endorsing the ideology of Syed Ali Shah Geelani, which is primarily secessionist in nature and illegal,” the order said, adding, “You have been found misusing your position as Bar Secretary. You are inciting the public to illegal activities for secession of J&K from India, thereby affecting the maintenance of the security of the state.”

Shaheen had been accused of launching a vicious media campaign to propagate secessionist ideology. The order said, “On July 12, Shaheen addressed a press conference stating that the present law and order problem was a struggle for seceding J&K from India.”

During the agitation of 2008 over the diversion of land to Shri Amarnath Shrine Board, “you remained in close contact with Hurriyat Coordination Committee and actively participated in various protest and illegal activities, which endangered human life,” the detention order adds.

“As a Bar member, you could have pleaded the case of detention of Mian Qayoom, which has been already instituted before court, but instead you chose to call for a boycott of courts,” it added.

Meanwhile, the Bar Association filed a writ petition before the High Court through Z A Qureshi and Mir Shafaqat Hussain challenging the detention of the Bar Secretary. Arguing the case, Shaheen’s counsel pleaded that the detention was invalid and unconstitutional.

They argued that the detainee has been discharging duties as a professional advocate, including critical examination of the government decisions. Court admitted the petition and directed the State Government to file objections within a week.