Security forces have begun setting up checkpoints and intensified patrolling in the region ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the state later this week.
As part of the security measures in the region, the state police and central paramilitary personnel have launched multiple area domination operations, including random frisking of civilian vehicles.
The security set-up will be further strengthened on a daily basis ahead of the Prime Minister’s visit to the region on November 7, said sources in a central paramilitary force.
The sources said the frisking of private vehicles, setting up of checkpoints and patrolling would be intensified in the coming days but it would be increased gradually to avoid creating a scare.
The Sher-e-Kashmir Stadium in the city, which will host the Prime Minister’s rally on Saturday, will be guarded by a multi-layered ring of security forces personnel.
The security forces also have checkpoints during night hours in the city and are guarding the entry points into Srinagar to deter the movement of militants. The security forces have achieved success against militants in the past two months and removed a major threat by killing a key militant commander who had masterminded a deadly attack on an army convoy on the eve of Prime Minister’s visit in 2013.
The police have also launched a crackdown against separatists, who are preparing for a march in the city on the day the Prime Minister will be here. The march, which has been called by hardliner Syed Ali Geelani’s separatist faction and is supported by the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front, is scheduled at the Tourist Reception Centre ground, less than a mile away from the venue of Modi’s rally.
So far, the police have detained dozens of separatist leaders and activists, including JKLF chairman Yasin Malik and vice-chairman Showkat Bakshi, and Geelani’s close aide Mohammad Ashraf Sehrai.
Meanwhile, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association today extended its support for the march.
