Srinagar: Police detained Independent MLA Sheikh Abdul Rashid when he and his supporters tried to take out a protest march as the civil secretariat reopened here on Monday, a media report said.

Rashid, along with supporters of his Awami Ittehad Party (AIP), tried to take out the march from Magarmal Bagh towards the civil secretariat but a large contingent of police stopped them near the Exhibition Crossing, a police official was quoted in the report as saying.

He said the legislator from north Kashmir’s Langate and his supporters tried to proceed further, but the police swung into action and took Rashid and a few of his supporters into custody, the report added.

Meanwhile, the Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) held a peaceful sit-in near party head office at Moulana Azad Road here, the report said.

The protest was led by JKPCC president Ghulam Ahmad Mir, the report added. Speaking to reporters, Mir said the Mehbooba Mufti government has failed on all fronts.

“Mehbooba Mufti government has failed on all fronts,” Mir was quoted in the report as saying.

“I want to ask the chief minister that what for is she running the government. There is no dialogue (with Hurriyat Conference), there is no headway on AFSPA, no talk on return of power projects, schools and colleges are closed, development has been halted and tourism stopped. So, what for is this government here now? Now, only Oxygen remains”.

Referring to Mufti’s statement that only Narendra Modi can resolve the Kashmir issue as he had the support of the entire nation, Mir said the prime minister has not uttered a word about the Centre’s Kashmir policy in three years, the report said. “We have a democratic right to know on what basis did Mehbooba say that. People also want to know that,” he was quoted as saying.