PM to visit J&K today, security beefed up

Prime Minister Narendra Modi would visit Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday where he would address two public rallies and also inaugurate the second phase of the Baglihar hydel project.

Elaborate security arrangements have been made with additional police and paramilitary forces deployed on the strategic Jammu-Srinagar National Highway. 

Modi will address a public meeting at the Sher-e-Kashmir cricket stadium here. “The Prime Minister will inaugurate the 450 MW Baglihar Hydro Electric Project Stage-II, and lay the foundation stone for the 4-laning of the Udhampur-Ramban and Ramban-Banihal section of National Highway 44, at a function in Chanderkote, Ramban. He will also address the gathering there,” an official statement said.

The venue for the Prime Minister’s rally here - Sher-e-Kashmir Cricket Stadium - has been turned into a virtual fortress with Special Protection Group (SPG) taking over it, officials said, adding a large posse of police and paramilitary personnel have also been deployed in and around the area to secure it. Many CCTV cameras have been installed in and around the venue to keep an eye on the movement of people.

As separatist groups have called for a parallel rally to that of Modi at Tourist Reception Centre ground - a stone’s throw from cricket stadium, the authorities have carried out a crackdown to foil their plans. Several of the top separatist leaders have been taken into preventive detention while some leaders including Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umer Farooq have been placed under house arrest.