Separatists under house arrest ahead of PM Modi visit

Srinagar: Kashmir’s chief Muslim cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, some other separatist leaders and a former lawmaker were on Saturday placed under house arrest to prevent them from organising protests during Prime Minister, Narendra Modi’s, visit of restive Jammu and Kashmir.

During his daylong stay on Sunday, the Prime Minister is scheduled to lay foundation stones of projects worth Rs 35,000 crore and inaugurate projects worth Rs 9,000 crore in all the three regions of the State-Jammu, Kashmir Valley and Ladakh. He will also address a rally of the recently elected village heads in summer capital Srinagar and a public meeting in Vijapur area of frontier Samba district in Jammu division.

The security forces have sounded a high alert across the state. The Prime Minister’s Special Protection Group (SPG) has taken over all the venues that Mr Modi is scheduled to visit. The security forces including the Army, Central armed forces and J&K police are maintaining highest level of alertness and synergy elsewhere in the State.

The J&K police and other security forces carried out three-day-long searches in Samba district falling close to the International Border with Pakistan to ensure security for the Prime Minister’s public rally at Vijaypur.

The BSF troops guarding the IB have been put on high alert too. The area often witnesses skirmishes between the facing border guards.