Jammu: Raising anti-Pakistan slogans, Shiv Sena activists on Saturday disrupted a news conference in Jammu called by Hurriyat hardline faction chief Syed Ali Shah Geelani after he was released on bail.
Geelani was arrested in a hotel room in the town of Poonch on Wednesday on charges of making public speeches in 2001 that police say could incite communal violence between Hindus and Muslims. Geelani rejects the charges.
The separatist leader, who was released from the district jail, was addressing the media when 50 to 60 Shiv Sena activists barged into the room at around 1400 hrs, IST and raised slogans against Pakistan, terrorism and Geelani.
The activists told the Hurriyat hardliner that they had not come to kill him or beat him but they would not allow him to hold a news conference in Jammu.
The argument between Geelani's supporters and the Shiv Sena activists continued for about 30 minutes after which a police contingent led by Deputy Superintendent of Police Ashok Sharma arrived at the venue.
The police tried to pacify the Shiv Sena activists and when that failed, asked Geelani to leave the venue, as it was becoming a law and order problem.
The Hurriyat leader and his men tried to argue but were whisked away from the conference hall and taken to a hotel room with the help of security personnel deployed at the gate. A visibly rattled Geelani said, "Jammu and Kashmir does not to belong to the Shiv Sena."
The police dismissed the episode as a "law and order problem".
Shops and businesses across Kashmir shut down on Friday after separatists called a strike to protest the arrest of a prominent separatist leader.
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