On march to Lal Chowk,Malik walks into polices arms

He took them down by the side of Ahle-Hadith mosque and turned towards CRPF inhabited Akhara building to reach his destination. But at the open shopping street on their way to Lal Chowk,a huge contingent of J&K police pushed them back.

Around 17 persons,including Malik,Lone,Shahid and JKLF vice-president Bashir Ahmad Bhat,were arrested and lodged at Kothibagh police station. Rest of the supporters were chased away. Police action was,however,restrained. No teargas was fired to disperse the mob. East Srinagar Superintendent of Police Sheikh Zulfikar,who was heading the operation,said the leaders had been taken into preventive custody.

However,the police was in for a fresh surprise. Srikanth,a BJP activist from Gwalior,was inconspicuously heading towards the clock tower along the Residency Road. He was frisked by the police and a Tricolour was recovered from inside his socks. He was taken into custody. Srikanth had passed himself off as a tourist had put up at an adjacent hotel to make a personal attempt at flag hoisting.

The police arrested six other BJP activists from Broadway Hotel who were preparing to proceed towards Lal Chowk.

JKLF said in a statement it succeeded in its mission and hoisted its own flags in the nearby locality of Batamaloo.