Ahead of polls security high alert in Srinagar

Srinagar: Three days ahead of polling, security has been put on high alert across Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency after intelligence inputs suggested that militants may carry out a suicide attack.

A senior police officer said that there were “significant inputs” suggesting that militants may target security forces’ vehicles travelling on the highway in Srinagar or on the national highway.

“We have put all our installations and security forces personnel deployed on the ground on a high alert and they will continue to remain so until the general elections are over in Srinagar,” he said.

Many check-points have been placed in the city, vehicles which are entering in the city are being thoroughly checked. Sniffer dogs are also being used to check vehicles to avoid any untoward incident, he said. Area domination and night patrolling has been intensified to thwart attempts by the militants to disrupt the polling.

Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency – comprising three districts of Srinagar, Budgam and Ganderbal – is scheduled to go for polls on April 18 in the second phase of the five-phased elections in the state.

Though the areas falling under Srinagar LS seat have seen lesser militant activities compared to south and north Kashmir areas in recent years, the impact of election boycott is expected to be huge. In 2017 by-election, only seven percent voters turned out to exercise their franchise and during large scale violence, nine people died.

An election official said super-sensitive, sensitive and vulnerable polling stations have been identified and the security deployment plan has been finalised. Srinagar LS seat has 12,90,318 voters who will cast their votes at 1,716 polling stations set up in the constituency.

Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL), a conglomerate of separatists headed by Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and Yasin Malik, have called for a shutdown in poll-bound areas on Thursday. (Deccan Herald)