Prime Minister to hold rally as per schedule on Dec 8
A day after the string of violence rocked the poll-bound J&K, it was business as usual for the mainstream parties which on Saturday held scores of public meetings in Baramulla, Budgam and Pulwama. It was only Tral pocket in south Kashmir, where two civilians died and a dozen injured in a mysterious explosion on Friday, which remained shut and poll activity came to a grinding halt.
Despite the audacious militant strikes, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s public meeting at Sher-e-Kashmir Stadium in Srinagar on December 8 will be held as per the schedule with the National Security Guards having already taken over the sensitive location.
Canvassing continued in other 15 constituencies which are scheduled to go to polls on Tuesday. People turned up in large numbers to hear the mainstream leaders, including Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and PDP patron and former Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, who campaigned in central district Budgam.
Senior BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain, who visited the Tral area in tight security, said, “There is no change in the PM’s programme. The people of Jammu & Kashmir are waiting eagerly for the Prime Minister.”
While security has been further tightened along the borders, Army chief Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag, who arrived here to review security situation against the backdrop of the fidayeen attack in Uri, said the attacks were a desperate attempt by militants to disrupt the democratic process in the State and vowed to defeat the malafide intensions of the adversaries.
Gen Suhag, who returned to Kashmir on Saturday just four days after he had visited the forward areas, paid tributes to slain soldiers at XV Corps headquarters. “I salute the brave soldiers who laid down their lives in the line of duty. Their sacrifice will not go waste. In fact, it will inspire each of us,” he said.
He also took stock of the state of security in the Valley in light of the ongoing elections. Expressing satisfaction on the high state of alertness of the forces, he added, “Our adversaries have not been able to dent the spirit of the population”.
Suhag added that “inimical forces” were “unnerved by the high voter turnout in the first two phases” and this (Uri attack) was an attempt to disrupt the remaining phases of the polls. He said the efforts put in by all the security forces were responsible for the peaceful conduct of first two phases of elections.
The security forces have intensified area domination in poll-bound areas of Baramulla, Pulwama and Budgam districts. Officials said that the attacks have thrown a new challenge to the security forces to ensure safe and secure polls. The first two phases of polls held in Bandipora, Ganderbal and Kupwara districts of Kashmir went off peacefully with higher voter turnout. PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, however, cancelled her roadshow in Tral.