J&K BJP leader taken into preventive custody

With BJP sticking to its plan to hoist the national flag at Lal Chowk in Srinagar on the Republic Day, the vice-president of the party's Jammu & Kashmir unit Sofi Yusuf was taken into preventive custody by the police late tonight.

Yusuf was picked up from his house at around 2230 hours on the ground of apprehension of breach of peace, said the police said.

Earlier in the day, six BJP activists were arrested for violating the prohibitory orders in force in Srinagar city when they were pasting posters on the city walls for publicising the culmination of the party’s Rahstriya Ekta Yatra at Lal Chowk on January 26.

The state government has already decided that it will not allow BJP to hoist the national flag in Srinagar as it could lead to law and order problems.