Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association president Mian Qayoom was among 25 separatists who were shifted from Kashmir Valley as a precautionary measure in the wake of constitutional changes made by the government, officials said on Friday. Qayoom and Mubin Shah, an office-bearer of Kashmir Chamber of Commerce, was part of the group of prisoners who were airlifted to Agra from Srinagar on Thursday, the officials said. The officials had said that the group mainly comprises “potential stone pelters” who have a history of trouble-making and alleged active members of separatist groups in Kashmir Valley. Qayoom is a noted lawyer and has been representing many cases in which separatist leaders have been booked by the police. They were taken in a special IAF plane to Uttar Pradesh and lodged in Agra Central Jail. The government has imposed strict restrictions in Jammu and Kashmir after the constitutional provisions that accorded the state special status were abrogated and it was divided into two union territories
