Security blanket over Srinagar

By Shujaat Bukhari

SRINAGAR, AUG. 13. Srinagar has been covered by a security blanket ahead of the Independence Day celebrations, giving it the look of a city under siege. All streets are dotted with security personnel, who stop vehicles and frisk people.

With frequent grenade attacks causing panic among the public as well as the security forces, no chances are being taken. Threats loom large from militant outfits such as Lashkar-e-Taiba, Hizb-ul Mujahideen and Jaish-e-Mohammad.

Reports have said that more than two dozen foreign militants had entered the city and were planning to strike on Independence Day. The recent incidents of grenade-throwing and firing at security forces lend credence to such reports. A security official admitted that the biggest threat was from the ``fidayeen'' (suicide squad) of the LeT.

Though the threat of attacks by militants on Independence Day or Republic Day is nothing new in Kashmir, the massacres in Doda and Jammu have the security agencies on tenterhooks. Personnel of the Border Security Force (BSF), the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the State police are sanitising every nook and corner of the city.

Wearing bulletproof jackets and protective headgear and with fingers on the triggers of their guns, the security personnel are carrying out surprise and random checks. For the first time in the past four years, ``crackdowns'' - during which people are collected in a locality and subjected to an identification parade - are back in the city.

Bakshi Stadium, venue of the Independence Day parade and where the Chief Minister, Dr. Farooq Abdullah, will unfurl the Tricolour, has a major presence of the security forces.

In Jammu too, efforts to ensure an incident-free Independence Day are on amid rumours that ``fidayeen'' had entered the city. The panic caused by the attack on the railway station is still palpable and most people plan to stay indoors during the celebrations.

Vigil has been increased on the borders also due to apprehension of firing by the Pakistan armed forces.

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