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| J&K celebrates R-Day under shadow of gun as terror attack fear stalks all alike | | | BHARAT BHUSHAN
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Jan 26: With hundreds of armed cops fanning across the winter capital city and several others standing guard at entry points, the 62nd Republic Day was celebrated here today under the shadow of loaded guns and there was no alternative. Fear of a terror attack stalked all alike.
The Republic Day function at M A stadium here has always been on the target list of Pak-sponsored militants. For this reason, it is every year made out of bounds for all at least a month before the function.
The deadliest attack on it was carried out in 1995 when the then state governor KV Krishna Rao had a miraculous escape. Two years, or so later, 20 rockets were recovered from the Nikki Tawi river bed a day before Republic Day. The stadium boundary adjoins the river bed. Had these not been sighted by some local boys who often went there to play, these could have exploded. These rockets weighed over 70 kg each and were said to have been smuggled from across the International Border (IB) on camel backs. After these incidents, utmost care was taken every year by police and security personnel to plug the infiltration routes on the sprawling river bed.
A police officer said several cops were deployed to keep a close vigil on the river bed for the past few days.
It is important from the security angle as about a week before R-Day in 1995, Pak national Irfan had infiltrated from RS Pura, covered the river bed to reach Jammu and hidden three bombs under the Tawi bridge at Bikram Chowk.
From there, he had walked to Poonch House government quarters at Panjtirthi and spent the night with a Kishtwar resident. The next morning, he had dug out the three bombs fitted with pre-timed devices and planted them inside the stadium. These bombs had exploded on January 26, killing nearly a dozen R-Day revellers and injuring several others. Rao, however, had a providential escape. Irfan, who was captured near Bari Brahmana few months after the stadium blasts, had later broken the "high-security" Kot-Bhalwal jail and exfiltrated to Pakistan.
Last year, two infiltration attempts were made by militants from across the border to create trouble on the R-Day eve. No such incident was, however, reported this year.
Despite the plugging of borders adjoining Pakistan and heavy deployment of cops in the city and the peripheral areas, the fear of a militant attack haunted everyone.
Due to tight security, shops and other business establishments remained closed in the city till evening. The vehicles, both passenger and private, also remained off the roads. All the city link roads and streets opening to the VVIP route had been plugged completely. Even people were not allowed to gather at their openings as security personnel suspected that saboteurs could mix up with them to throw a grenade on the VVIP cavalcade. Snipers had taken positions on PCR and other high-rise buildings in the city and around the stadium. No one was allowed to move on the flyover, which overlooked the stadium, till the function was over. Also, no vehicle was allowed to enter the city till the function ended.
The constant police and army pressure on militants and busting of over a dozen militant hideouts in the forested mountains of the region did pay as they could not come to the plains to make a strike. The celebrations passed off peacefully in all the districts of the region. The officer said while some troops patrolled the borders round-the-clock, others laid ambushes in the nearby fields and on the possible infiltration routes. The border troops also celebrated Republic Day by distributing sweets among themselves. After the incident-free conduct of the celebrations, senior officers of police and army were seen congratulating each other and commending the role of jawans and field officers. |
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