Acting Hurriyat Chairman, others detained

Acting Chairman of hardliner Hurriyat Ghulam Nabi Sumji and five other separatist leaders were briefly detained in Anantnag on Friday when they were heading towards Shangus area, the scene of protests against alleged desecration of a mosque and holy Quran. Sumji alongwith senior leaders of the separatist amalgam - Firdous Ahmad Shah, Mohammad Shafi Lone, Moulvi Bashir Ahmad, Abdul Rashid Khan and Ashiq Hussain

Rather were stopped by police and taken into preventive custody for sometime, official sources said.

Several thousand people took to the streets in Shangus on Thursday to protest alleged desecration of a mosque and Holy Quran.

The separatist leaders were detained as a precautionary measure as authorities apprehended that their visit to the village might further deteriorate the already surcharged atmosphere, the sources said.

Sources said the villagers again staged protests in the village after Friday prayers demanding severe punishment to the culprits.

Deputy Commissioner, Anantnag, G A Peer on Thursday announced suitable reward for anyone providing information about the miscreants leading to their arrest.

Condemning the police action, a spokesman of the Hurriyat Conference headed by Syed Ali Shah Geelani said, "Jammu and Kashmir has virtually become a police state over the years with police personnel considering arrest and roughing up of people as their duty."