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BJP R-day flags, activists Œstone-pelters¹
Bashaarat Masood Posted online: Mon Jan 24 2011, 09:12 hrs
Srinagar : In what could prove an embarrassment for the BJP, the police said
that two of its activists arrested on Saturday, ahead of the party¹s planned
yatra to hoist the Tricolour at Lal Chowk, are known stone-pelters.
³We arrested six BJP activists. Two of them turned out to be listed
stone-throwers,² Senior Superintendent of Police, Srinagar, Ashiq Bukhari
told The Indian Express.

Denying that the men belonged to the party, the state president of Bharatiya
Janata Yuva Morcha Shamsher Singh Manhas said: ³We are for the integrity of
the state. The police are baffled by our programme... now they are inventing
these stories. We have no idea about the people arrested by the police. We
have been informed only about arrest of three activists.²

Incidentally, BJP state vice-president Sofi Mohammad Yousuf had confirmed
the arrest of the six party activists, calling it an attempt to foil the
party¹s Republic Day programme. ³We were making preparations for the welcome
of BJP activists visiting Kashmir. When our activists left home, some of
them were arrested,² Yousuf told The Indian Express.

Of the six alleged BJP activists, held from Srinagar for ³violating²
prohibitory orders, were 22-year-old Wasim Hassan and Imtiyaz Ahmad, 24,
both residents of downtown Srinagar, a stronghold of separatists.

Sources say that Hassan, a resident of Qamarwari, and Ahmad of Nawab Bazar
were involved in stone-throwing during the June uprising and that police are
investigating cases against them.

Inspector General of Police, Kashmir, Shiv Murari Sahai confirmed the same.