With the Police and the security forces working on a high alert, no untoward incident has been reported from anywhere in Jammu and Kashmir on the eve of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first visit to the strife-torn State on Friday.
Inspector General of Police Jammu, Rajesh Kumar told The Hindu that barring the routine exchange of small arms fire on the LoC in Mendhar sector, no untoward incident was reported from anywhere. He said there was no truth in the >media reports that three infiltrating militants had got killed during the border skirmishes. “This is not a fact. Nobody has died. Nobody has been reported injured. Army have not caused or suffered any casualty”, the IGP said.
“There was intermittent exchange of fire during the night which ended at 9.00 a.m. Nobody is reported dead or injured”, the IGP added.
Director General of Police K. Rajendra Kumar and other senior officials are now camping in Jammu to supervise the security arrangements in coordination with the SPG for the public meeting to be addressed by Mr Modi at Katra — base camp of Mata Vaishno Devi pilgrimage — after inaugurating a railway station and flagging off the train for New Delhi via Udhampur, Jammu and Pathankote.
In Srinagar, officials claimed to have put in place all necessary arrangements for Mr. Modi’s interactive meeting with the Army at headquarters of 15 Corps, a lunch at Raj Bhavan and the inauguration of a power project at Uri. However, compared to the previous Prime Ministers’ visits, The Hindu observed during a passage through Srinagar that there was no special deployment, checking of vehicles or frisking of the passengers. All markets were open as usual in spite of intermittent drizzle.
Call for shutdown
Like on all such occasions in the past since 1990, all the separatist outfits and conglomerates have called for a total shutdown on Friday when Mr Modi would be holding his first visit to the Valley. All three factions of the Hurriyat Conference, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front and other groups have issued the call for shutdown.
