Police on Friday picked up one more frontline separatist leader, Shabir Shah, from Srinagar even as curfew in the city was relaxed in a phased manner.
With Shah's arrest, the authorities have detained almost the entire top brass of the two groups of separatist conglomerate, All Parties Hurriyat Conference, some of whom including Dukhtarani Milaat chief Asiya Andrabi have been detained under harsh Public Safety Act.
A senior police officer said Shabir Shah was arrested from a house in the uptown Rawalpora locality on Friday morning. He was immediately taken to an undisclosed destination.
Shah had been evading arrest since police's first swoop on separatist leaders that began in the wee hours Sunday when two senior most separatist leaders, Mirwaiz Moulvi Umar Farooq and Syed Ali Shah Geelani, were arrested.
Since then more separatist leaders have been arrested by the police and lodged in various jails.
State Chief Secretary S S Kapoor on Friday convened a meeting of the local editors to persuade them to resume publication of their newspapers.
For the sixth day running, local newspapers could not hit the stands because of the strict curfew restrictions.
The administration had on Thursday given a one-and-a-half hour break in the curfew in a phased manner in capital city and other towns.
Groups of people held protests at Humhama in Budgam district and at Shopian and Bandipore districts in south and north Kashmir.
For the first time Friday prayers were not offered in the historic Jamia Mosque in old city, because of strict curfew restrictions.
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