Srinagar, April 30
The police here today foiled a protest march from Lal Chowk to the UN office organised by the hardline APHC chairman, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, against alleged human rights violations even as a mini bus passenger died when some miscreants threw stones at the vehicle at Batamaloo.

Geelani, who was put under house arrest yesterday, was held and lodged in a police station when he tried to defy restrictions and proceed to Lal Chowk from his Hyderpora residence this morning. The restrictions under Section 144 had been imposed across the city in view of the proposed march by his faction in protest against alleged human rights violations and the death sentence to three persons and life term to one in the 1996 Lajpat Nagar blast case given by a Delhi court recently. A heavy deployment of police was made in the sensitive areas. Many party leaders, including Feroz Ahmad and Mohammad Shafi Reshi,were also arrested the from Lal Chowk area. Demonstrations were also held at several places here and at different district headquarters across the valley apart from Doda and Kishtwar districts in the Jammu region in response to the APHC call, a party spokesman said.

Meanwhile, Shafiq Ahmad Sheikh, an orderly in the State Board of School Education, posted at the Head office at Bemina here was seriously injured when some persons threw stones at a mini bus he was travelling in at the Batamaloo bus stand here this morning. He was admitted to SMHS Hospital where from he was referred to the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) at Soura here. He succumbed to his injuries while being taken to the institute, the police said. However, locals claimed that the person had died due to a bullet injury.State Board officials said Sheikh, who was a resident of the Natipora locality, was on his way to the office. Contesting the police claim that he died due to stone throwing, the APHC spokesman said reports suggested Shafiq Ahmad died due to a bullet injury he received on the head.