Srinagar/Jammu, Jan 22: Ahead of the proposed programme of flag hoisting by Bharatiya Janta party, police has begun mobilization on border with Punjab and crackdown on party activists to thwart their plan. Six BJP activists were held last night for pasting posters of the “Ekta Yatra”in Srinagar city.
A large contingent of police personnel has been dispatched to Lakhanpur- the entry point of the state- to foil the programme.
Talking to Greater Kashmir, Senior Superintendent of Police, Kathua, Jia Lal Sharma said additional police contingents have started arriving.
“I don’t have the exact number of police personnel who have arrived and they are still arriving,” he said, adding that they would be deployed wherever they are needed. We will implement the decision taken by the state government in letter and spirit,” he said.
 Highly placed sources told Greater Kashmir that state Government fears massive mobilization of activists from the areas of bordering Punjab as BJP enjoys strong support in this area.
 “Every precaution would be taken to stop the entry of activists from the neighbouring states at Lakhanpur and all the vehicles entering the state are being checked thoroughly,” they said.
 Meanwhile, police on Friday night held six activists of Bharatiya Janta Party from civil lines of the city when they were pasting posters of Ekta Yatra in Barbarshah.
 Sources identified them as Mushtaq Ahmed Dar of Soura, Showkat Ahmed Mir of Verinag, Wasim Hassan Bhat of Qamarwari, Imtiyaz Ahmed Shiekh of Qalamdanpora, Manzoor Ahmed Bhat of Nawab Bazar and Hilal Ahmed Mir of Basant Bagh.
 The posters seized by the police were carrying images of Atal Behari Vajaypee and LK Advani and were publicizing the culmination of Ekta Yatra, some of the posters appeared in Bemina and Tatoo Ground areas.
 The police also raided BJP office in Rajbagh area of the city and a hotel in Regal Chowk where party planned to address a news conference.
 They cops have directed hotel owners of the city to check the identity cards of guests, as BJP activists might put in the hotels to show their presence on January 26.
 Sources told Greater Kashmir that strict restrictions would be imposed in many areas of the city on January 26 to foil the programmes of both BJP and JKLF. The later has given call for Lal Chowk Chalo.
 “The trainee cops and CRPF personnel would be deployed in addition to the normal law and order contingent of both forces in the city,” they said, adding that about 3000 trainee paramilitary CRPF men would also assist state police in countering the BJP programme.
 Meanwhile, Inspector General of Police, Kashmir,  SM Sahai held a meeting this evening with police officials at police headquarters here to chalk out a strategy for foiling the programmes of BJP and JKLF.

GKNN ADDS FROM JAMMU:
 Intensifying its vigil to prevent the Bharatiya Janata Party activists from “creating law and order problems” in the state, police today detained around 100 persons believed to be BJP activists from Jammu Railway Station, immediately after they descended from a train.
 Sources said that following inputs from the intelligence wing, state police Saturday sounded alert at Lakhanpur, Kathua, Samba and Jammu to prevent BJP activists to enter the state.
 “The first batch of BJP youth wing activities from Gujarat reached Jammu Railway Station in Swaraj Express here this afternoon. However, they were detained by the police, and were whisked away,” sources said.
 As the detainees claimed to be Vaishno Devi pilgrims they were taken to Katra town in three mini-buses arranged by the police to ensure that they do not move towards Kashmir valley”, sources said adding that intelligence agencies had sounded an alert after inputs were received that BJP activist from state and outside will try to reach Srinagar in advance.
 A police officer from Katra told Greater Kashmir on the condition of anonymity that the “pilgrims were escorted by the police from Railway Station to Katra as precautionary measures”. He, however, claimed that none of them were BJP activist.
 Meanwhile, police are engaged in sealing the state’s border with Punjab at Lakhanpur to prevent the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Yatra from entering the state.
 Police contingents have been dispatched to Lakhanpur, the gateway of Jammu and Kashmir, 90 km south of Jammu. The personnel will be deployed on a bridge linking Madhopur in Punjab with Lakahanpur, a source said.
 The BJP’s activists who have joined the Rashtriya Ekta Yatra, or national unity march, that started off from Kolkata on Jan 12, are slated to enter the state Monday.
 The policemen have been ordered not to allow any vehicle or marcher of the BJP into the state. “If need be, there would be use of force,” a senior police official said.
 He, however, did not give any details of the level of force that may be used against the marchers. The police columns have been given hundreds of teargas shells. There might be a bigger and more lethal use of force against the marchers, the source said.
 Police deployment is being done as despite Jammu and Kashmir “banning” the BJP’s yatra, the party activists were moving towards the state.
 The BJP has declared that it would not budge from its plans of hoisting the flag in Lal Chowk, Srinagar’s historic city centre.
 “We want to know what is wrong with the hoisting of flag,” Munish Sharma, state unit president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, the youth wing of the BJP, told reporters.
 “This is our right as Indians, which we are going to exercise and no one can stop us from doing so,” he asserted Saturday.
 Separatists have also given a call for a counter-march to Lal Chowk in Srinagar on Jan 26 and have planned to hoist black flags and to stage street protests.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 22 Jan 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 22 Jan 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 23 Jan 2011 00:00:00 IST