Jammu and Kashmir: Former MLA Engineer Rashid, separatist leaders detained ahead of PM Modi's visit

Rashid had said that he will welcome the Prime Minister with black flags. Earlier Police had house arrested or detained several separatist leaders including Geelani, Yasin Malik and Mirwaiz Umar.

Ahead of the Prime Minister’s daylong visit, former MLA Engineer Rashid was detained by Jammu and Kashmir police from his home at Rajbagh, Srinagar.

New Delhi: Ahead of the Prime Minister’s daylong visit to Jammu and Kashmir and Leh, former MLA Engineer Rashid was detained  by Jammu and Kashmir police from his home at Rajbagh, Srinagar. Rashid had said that he will welcome the Prime Minister with black flags. Earlier Police had house arrested or detained several separatist leaders including Geelani, Yasin Malik and Mirwaiz Umar. Rashid is the founder and 'patron' of the Jammu and Kashmir Awami Ittehad Party. Security was stepped up around the residence of Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Geelani who remains under house arrest. Prime Minister Narendra Modi today embarked on his trip to Jammu and Kashmir and Leh, where he laid the foundation of various development projects, including two All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Jammu and Srinagar divisions and the University of Ladakh. PM Modi is scheduled to lay of the foundation stones of two All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Vijaypur and Awantipora. He will also visit the famous Dal lake in Srinagar. An official statement about the visit said that setting up of new AIIMS would transform health care facilities, health education and training in the region, The Prime Minister will also be laying the foundation stone of northern regional centre campus of Indian Institute of Mass Communication in Jammu. University of Ladakh which is supposed to be a cluster university comprising degree colleges of Leh, Kargil, Nubra, Zanskar, Drass and Khaltsi, will also be launched by the prime minister. It will be the first-ever university in the Ladakh region of the state. The university will have administrative offices in Leh and Kargil. A four-tier security apparatus has been put in place for the prime minister's visit. Vigil has also been tightened along the border in view of the visit. Before this, Modi had visited Jammu, Srinagar and Leh on May 19, 2018 to lay the foundation stones of various infrastructure projects in the state.