The authorities have reduced by half the security cover given to Hurriyat Conference leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.

The moves comes in the wake of the lynching of Deputy Superintendent of Police Mohammad Ayoub Pandit on June 23 in the Nowhatta area near Jamia Masjid, where the separatist leader delivers sermons on Fridays and other important religious days.

The number of security personnel given to the Mirwaiz, the chairman of the moderate Hurriyat Conference, has been reduced to half, from 16 to 8, sources in the security wing of the police said today.

They said the process of downgrading the Mirwaiz's security had started on June 29, six days after the DSP was stripped and stoned to death after he was caught allegedly clicking pictures of the people coming out of the mosque after 'Shab-e-qadr' (the night of power) prayers.

The Mirwaiz was accorded 'Z' category security cover after Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist shot dead his father, Mirwaiz Molvi Mohammad Farooq, at his residence in 1990.