With five-phase poll process set to begin in Jammu and Kashmir from April 10 and ending on May 7, security forces are gearing up to face possible terrorist onslaught on political leaders to disrupt electioneering.
The threat perception has also increased as the State Government will move to Srinagar from relatively safe Jammu on April 25. Radio intercepts by various agencies indicate that ISI has instructed militants to step up violence. Every year, the State Government offices move from Srinagar to Jammu in winters and return to Srinagar in summer months. This process is likely to be completed by May 10 this year.
Having activated 17 terrorist training camps in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) facing North Kashmir and locations opposite Poonch and Rajouri in Jammu division, ISI backed militants are likely to attack village sarpanchas besides grenade attacks on security pickets in towns like Srinagar, Anantnag and Baramulla during electioneering, sources said here on Tuesday.
Moreover, concentration of militants in launch pads close to the line of Control (lOC) has increased and security forces fear that the border may witness some well-planned and “sensational” attacks in the next few days to gain international attention.
After the weather improved in the last fortnight, nearly 800 militants in 17 training camps are waiting to sneak in through the ingress routes which till last month were blocked by heavy snow, they said.
Given this scenario, security forces including the Army, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and local police are revising their strategy to deal with infiltration and efforts to create trouble during the election process. Jammu region will go to polls on April 10, Udhampur on April 17, Anantnag on April 26, Srinagar on April 30 and Baramulla and leh on May 7.
After reviewing degree of threat perception in North and South Kashmir, 93 per cent of polling booths were termed as hyper-sensitive in Srinagar, 70 per cent in Baramulla and 82 percent in Anantnag. This has helped the forces to provide security cover to candidates and sanitise specified constituencies, officials said adding there are 4,773 booths in North Kashmir.
As regards Jammu division in South Kashmir, the Election Commission has set up the highest number of 2,271 polling stations in Jammu-Poonch lok Sabha seat for over 17.63 lakh electorate and around 100 have been declared as hypersensitive, while 600 are sensitive.
As per the present arrangements, 1,153 polling stations are in Jammu, 499 in Rajouri, 373 in Poonch and 246 in Samba for the first phase of polling. The authorities have identified 52 polling stations close to the International Border and the loC where voting can get affected if there is a firing from across the border on the day of polling. “A contingency plan is already in place to shift these polling stations to safer locations if there is any violation of ceasefire on the International Border and the loC on the day of polling,” said a senior poll official.
Besides the State police force, 39 additional companies of central armed forces and 32 companies of state armed police are deployed to ensure free and fair voting on Thursday. Forty three (43) per cent polling stations in border district of Poonch and 34 percent in Rajouri have been placed under sensitive or hyper sensitive categories in the wake of militancy threats following melting of snow from upper reaches.
Out of a total of 373 polling stations in the district, a total of 164 polling stations have been categorized as sensitive and hyper sensitive where chances of untoward incidents are much higher than the rest. In Rajouri out of a total of 542 polling stations in the district, more than 180 have been categorized as ‘sensitive’ thereby stretching the percentage of such stations to 34 per cent.