National Front Chairman Nayeem Ahmad Khan and 15 party activists were detained on Tuesday at Mirgund, 20 kms from here, on the Srinanagar-Uri national highway. They were trying to cross into Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to take part in relief operations there, official sources said.
Khan and his colleagues, including general secretary advocate Hilal and Syed Ziaddin, were taken into preventive custody by Jammu and Kashmir Police, which also resorted to cane-charging to prevent them from going to PoK unauthorisedly on Tuesday morning, the sources said.
Police also raided National Front office and Khan's residence on the outskirts of Srinagar several times on Monday night, but he evaded arrest apparently because of his proposed plan to cross over to PoK through Uri sector.
India and Pakistan have decided to open border points along LoC and set up relief camps there to help quake-stricken families from either side in Kashmir avail medical treatment and relief.
Officials of the two countries will meet on October 29 to discuss the modalities of the same, even as Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced in New Delhi that its camps at Aman Setu in Uri, Teetwal in Tangdhar and Chakan Da Bagh had become operational from Tuesday.