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| Winter capital turns into fortress; hundreds of cops fan across city | | Night before R-Day tense; borders sealed, bus services to remote hilly areas cancelled | | BHARAT BHUSHAN
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Jan 25: In the troubled Jammu and Kashmir, the night before Republic Day was tense. Elaborate security arrangements had been put in place to ensure incident-free celebrations Wednesday.
While the winter capital city turned into a virtual fortress with hundreds of police personnel putting a multi-layer security ring across it tonight, plugging all its entry points; the borders were "sealed" too to stop Pakistan from infiltrating militants. Apart from setting up barricades at the entry points to keep a vigil on all those entering the city, and making M A Stadium -- the venue of main Republic Day function in the winter capital -- out of bounds for people to keep "saboteurs" of peace away, police today laid surprise check points on the Narwal-Nagrota bypass road, circular road and lower and upper Akhnoor roads. Elaborate air defence measures, including deployment of anti-aircraft guns, were also taken to check intrusion of air space," a senior police officer said.
A special emphasis was being given on anti-sabotage checks and intelligence coordination, he added.
The officer said MA stadium was covered by special security and anti-terror arrangements. A massive ground-to-air security apparatus had also been put in place for the function, he added.
Mobile police teams and sharpshooters were also deployed in the city.
The officer said police and security agencies were put on high alert in Jammu following intelligence inputs that saboteurs could choose the city for a "big strike" on R-Day eve.
No vehicle was being allowed to enter the city unchecked. Surprise police check points were laid on the Nikki Tawi river bed close to the stadium, in the border villages and on the known infiltration routes from Paharpur in Kathua to Poonch, the officer added. On the Manda hills, overlooking the Hari Singh Palace-Nagrota road and the lower Radio Station-Nagrota road stretch, army jawans were deployed. In the city, snipers had taken positions at the high-rise buildings around the stadium to keep an eye on the subversive elements. CCTVs were also keeping a tight vigil on people's movement between Manda and the stadium. A new CCTV tower was erected at Manda only few days back.
Quoting intelligence inputs, the officer said Pak-sponsored militants could either carry out a suicide attack, or cause bomb blasts.
Dozens of check points were set up and cordon and search operations initiated by police to prevent such attacks, the officer added. However, when cops fanned out on the city roads and gathered at the crossings in the evening, frisking suspects, shopkeepers downed their shutters early and left for homes.
On the roads, a very thin vehicular traffic was seen as people drove homes early to avoid police checking and volley of questions which often led to harassment. Hotels and restaurants were also closed early in view of no rush of customers.
It would be an undeclared curfew here Wednesday as business establishments would remain closed till afternoon when the Republic Day function would come to an end.
The security was also further strengthened around the famous Raghunath Temple, Ranbireshwar Temple and some other religious places, besides vital police and army installations.
Sources said it would be an untiring vigil for police and security personnel tonight with senior police officers monitoring the situation to thwart any terror attack.
All the garbage dumps in the city and on the peripheral areas were also removed so that militants did not hide bombs in them. Few years back, a bomb had exploded on Republic Day in a garbage dump close to the NC office here.
On the International Border and the Line of Control (LoC), troops were maintaining round-the-clock vigil to foil any infiltration bid.The officer said the Pak-based militants were expected to make every possible effort to sneak into the Indian territory tonight to disrupt the Republic Day celebrations.
Apart from patrolling along the borders, the troops had laid multiple ambushes in the border villages. The border residents had also been asked to remain vigilant and contact police or security forces in case they spotted an outsider in their area.The officer said all passenger bus services from major towns to remote villages in the mountain-locked districts of Doda, Kishtwar, Udhampur, Reasi, Ramban, Poonch and Rajouri were cancelled this evening as security agencies apprehended "massacres" by militants.
All the district SSPs had been directed to personally monitor nakas and ambush points tonight.
The officer said additional police and security personnel had been deployed in minority pockets in the region.
The security was also enhanced at the railway station here and along the railway track, he added. |
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