Shabir Shah detained
SRINAGAR, Aug 13 — Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party President Shabir Ahmad Shah, along with his three associates, was taken into preventive custody as the police foiled his attempt to take out a procession in uptown Srinagar today.

Shabir Shah detained

SRINAGAR, Aug 13 (PTI) — Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party (JKDFP) President Shabir Ahmad Shah, along with his three associates, was taken into preventive custody as the police foiled his attempt to take out a procession in uptown Srinagar today.

Mr Shah, accompanied by party activists including three senior leaders, attempted to take out a procession from their headquarters at Kursoo-Rajbagh in the city shortly before prayers, official sources said.

Raising anti-election and pro-freedom slogans, JKDFP activists reached Zero Bridge, hardly covering 300 metres from their office, where they were stopped by the police.

The police used force to disperse the procession after Mr Shah refused to disperse and tried to continue the procession towards Lal Chowk in violation of prohibitory orders in force in the city.

Mr Shah, Mr Moulvi Mohammad Abdullah Tahri, Mr Syed Saleem Geelani and another senior leader were detained by the police and were lodged in Rajbagh police station.

Militants’ "order" worries residents
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, Aug 13 — Residents of Kupwara, Sopore, Anantna, Poonch and Doda have been threatened by mercenaries to hoist Pakistani flags on August 14 and 15.

Reports said that groups of foreign mercenaries went to aleast 16 villages in Kupwara district and "ordered" residents to hoist Pakistani flags on August 14, which is Pakistan’s Independence Day, and August 15, India’s Independence Day failing which they "will face the music."

On being informed about it, security forced contacted prominent residents and advised them not to follow the "directive" of the militants.

When some of them said that their lives would be in danger, if they defied the militants’ "order" the security personnel assured them that no harm would come their way.

According to the reports, the militants were making preparations for "celebrating" Pakistan’s Independence Day by hoisting flags of that country holding parades in the far-flung areas to create a scare among the people.

The state government had already taken steps to ensure that the Independence Day celebrations passed off peacefully in Jammu and Kashmir.

The reports said several hundred residents of Kupwara district had shifted to safer places and planned to return after August 16.

According to the reports troops along the international border had been put on maximum alert. The government had also identified several sensitive areas in Poonch and Doda and parts of the valley and the police had been directed to keep a strict vigil.