Kashmir’s well-known separatist leaders, including Syed Ali Geelani ,Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik, in a joint address at Srinagar’s Jamia Masjid on Friday warned the youth “not to get swayed by the Islamic State ideology.”

Addressing a large number of the congregation, during the Friday prayers, they condemned last Friday’s bid by masked youth to unfurl the IS flag in the mosque, Mr. Geelani and the Mirwaiz described the incident as “a plot to link Kashmir’s struggle with terrorism and global agenda.”

“Any effort to weaken this movement by diverting its course and linking it to some global agenda is unacceptable…,” the Mirwaiz said. Mr. Geelani, who delivered his speech over the phone, said the incident was a brazen “attempt to link the struggle with global terror groups.” Mr. Malik said youth were welcome to meet the leaders with their ideas. In a joint appeal by separatist amalgam, Joint Resistance Leadership, comprising the three top separatist leaders, youth were asked not to get swayed by IS ideology.

A local journalist has also written that the separatist leaders rebutted Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s statement in Parliament that “an unconditional dialogue offer was made to separatists in the Valley”.

  ISIS, Kashmir