'Egg on face', Mirwaiz talks of democracy

Hurriyat leader heckled by Kashmiri Pandits, right-wing activists in Delhi

After meeting with similar protests in Kolkata, Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq faced an angry group of protesters on his Delhi visit too on Tuesday.


Baptism by fire: BJP activists burn a poster of separatist leader Mirwaiz
Umar Farooq in New Delhi on Tuesday. PIC/Imtiyaz Khan

Mirwaiz, who had come to speak at a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents Club on the Purana Qila Road, was heckled and it was left to the cops to save him. A group of Kashmiri Pandits threw eggs on his car and tried to break the windshield. The protesters, including those from the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, also tried to climb on Mirwaiz's car.

The police force posted on the venue for the Hurriyat leader's visit managed the crowd. The protesters waited for him to come out and heckle the Mirwaiz again but the police and CRPF jawans did not allow them to reach him.

"We will continue protests all over the country. Wherever he goes our men will follow him and will protest against the atrocities on the displaced Kashmiri Pandits. We will protest against him during his upcoming trips to Lucknow and Hyderabad," said Aditya Raj Kaul, activist of Roots in Kashmir.

Meanwhile Mirwaiz spoke to the foreign correspondents about the Kashmir issue, saying violence in Kashmir was a result of "malfunction of Indian government". The Mirwaiz also condemned the FIR against SAS Geelani, Arundhati Roy and SAS Geelani.

A foreign correspondent told MiD DAY that the Mirwaiz sought international support and when the correspondents asked questions about the protest by Kashmiri Pandits, he said their protest was "undemocratic" and they must protest peacefully. The Mirwaiz is on a tour to talk on Kashmir.

The cops arrested some protesters and later released them. After the conference the protesters shouted slogans against the Hurriyat leader and burnt his posters.