A sudden alert was sounded across Srinagar Tuesday and police carried out major frisking and search operations in various areas taking travelers by surprise. Police sources said they have inputs about ‘militant movement’ in the city.
Witnesses said that police and SoG men, some of them with their faces covered, stopped vehicles at Sempora where they had placed a barricade. “They were stopping almost every vehicle, especially small vehicles and checking the identity of travellers,” they said.
Abdur Rashid, who was travelling in his private vehicle from Pampore to Lal Chowk, said he was stopped at three places—first at Sempora, then at Athwajan and also at Sonwar. “Police and SoG men quizzed me as to wherefrom I came and where I am supposed to go. My two cousins, who were travelling with me were asked to show their identity cards and also questioned where they were going,” Rashid said.
Police had laid Nakas at various places and while cops were maintaining a tight vigil across the city. Intense frisking was going on at Zero Bridge, Moulana Azad Road, Jehangir Chowk, and also near the fly-over. Reports of similar frisking operations poured from various Srinagar areas especially uptown. Witnesses and travellers said that frisking operations started in the wee hours.
“We saw police and SoG men stopping vehicles at Athwajan near Pantha Chowk early in the morning as we were travelling to South Kashmir from Srinagar,” said Nazir Ahmed, a resident of Awantipora, Pulwama. Police sources, however, said that frisking operation was a routine and that they had inputs about possible movement of militants. “The inputs, however, were not specific,” they said. A senior police official, wishing not to be named said that there were some leads that given the “return of normalcy” and the rise in the flow of pedestrian movement and private vehicles, militants may travel from villages and enter into city to carry out a big strike,” he said. “Since all the Close Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras are already on, we mobilised our men to carry out a routine frisking amid directions to keep an eye on the suspects.”
Sources said that it is believed that militants are likely to change their locations and there is every possibility that they may sneak into the city and attack security installations to show their presence. “There are inputs that militants who carried out an attack in Baramulla district are on run. As they failed to inflict heavy casualties on the forces in Baramulla, they might resort to some misadventure by changing their locations,” police sources said.
The frisking and search operations were intense at various points along the Srinagar-Jammu highway from Sonwar to Pampore. Army is already manning the highway by placing their Casper vehicles at various strategic locations besides resorting to normal patrolling.
Srinagar on Alert after Suspicious Movement
