Kashmiri separatist leader Mirwaiz Umer defies house arrest, shifted to police station

 Srinagar: Senior Kashmiri separatist leader Mirwaiz Umer Farooq defied house arrest on Tuesday and tried to march towards the Lal Chowk area here.

According to the police, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq who was placed under house arrest in his residence on the city's outskirts, tried to defy the order.

"He was taken into preventive custody and shifted to the Nigeen police station," police sources said.

Another senior separatist leader, Muhammad Yasin Malik who had evaded arrest, appeared in Lal Chowk where the police took him into preventive custody.

The separatists had called for a protest march to Lal Chowk against the killings of seven civilians in an explosion in Kulgam district on Sunday.

Authorities have placed curbs on the movement of traffic to and through Lal Chowk.

Educational institutions have been closed in Srinagar as a precautionary measure.