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The Jammu and Kashmir police have arrested the chairman of the pro-independence Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, Yasin Malik. The leader was accused of propagating anti-election campaign in Kashmir. Yasin Malik urged the people of Kashmir to boycott the upcoming assembly elections in the state while addressing a huge gathering of people at Srinagar.
Recently, the Election Commission of India has declared that assembly polls in Kashmir will be held from November 17 to December 24, 2008. According to a police official, Malik was arrested from his Maisuma residence in early hours. Yasin Malik-led Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front had threatened to boycott the election even before the declaration of election dates in Kashmir.
Meanwhile, the arrest of Malik led to wide spread violence and agitation in Maisuma. Report says that the police had to use tear gas to restrict the raging protestors. Shopkeepers of the area closed their outlets owing to violence. According to police besides Yasin Malik, another person named Moulvi Showkat Ahmad Shah has been arrested for accompanying Malik in poll boycott campaign.
