Punjab police today conducted search operation in Pathankot following reports of intelligence agencies tracing a phone call made to Pakistan from Gujrat village here, about 20-25 km from Indo-Pak border.
“We have conducted search operation in village Gujrat here after receiving an input,” a senior police officer told PTI today.
However, he refused to share any detail about the intelligence input.
A huge police force including state police’s Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team was deployed in Gujrat village to carry out the search operation.
Senior police officials including ADGP (Law & Order) Hardeep Dhillon and DIG (Border Range) Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh were also in Pathankot to supervise the entire operation.
Though senior police officials refused to share any information, there were reports that intelligence agencies had traced a phone call made to Pakistan from Gujrat village here.
“I would not like to share any operational details. Whatever information (input) we had received, we acted on that and conducted the search operation,” the DIG (Border Range) said.
“There is nothing for people to fear, we have deployed the police and we are capable to deal with any situation,” he further said.
A historical Lord Shiva temple is located in a jungle area of Kataru Chak village which is about 2 km from Gujrat village in Pathankot. Kataru Chak village is famous for its historical place called ‘Chatpat vani’ which means a small but thick forest.
Lal Singh, husband of Urmila Devi, the Sarpanch of Kataruchak village said every year, a ‘Mela’ is organised at ’Shivala Chatpat vani’ temple on the occasion of Maha Shivratri festival and a large number of people from far off places come here to pay obeisance.
He said that about 100-150 security personnel had cordoned off the area.
Yesterday, Western Army Commander Lt Gen K.J. Singh had said that there were some “disturbing” inputs about a terror attack in India aimed at creating the “maximum media impact” during the Shivratri festival and the ongoing Parliament session.
On March 2, an alert was sounded in villages located near the Indo-Pak border in Pathankot district and patrolling was intensified after BSF alerted police on spotting three to five suspects in Pakistan side near the border.
Heavily armed terrorists had attacked Pathankot Airforce base in January this year.
