Troop movement, yatra advisory have J-K on edge

Amid troop build-up and alarming advisories issued by authorities, panic spread in Kashmir on Friday with the axing of Amarnath yatra adding to the anxiety.

Throughout the day messages kept on circulating on social media that BJP government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was preparing for trifurcation of the restive Himalayan state. If J&K is trifurcated, Jammu will be made a separate state, with Kashmir and Ladakh getting the status of union territories.

The speculations of Center scrapping Articles 370 and 35A, of the Indian Constitution, which grant special status to Jammu and Kashmir, have been doing rounds in Kashmir for past many days. Even though the matter is pending in the Supreme Court, the BJP has consistently reiterated it’s stance to repeal special status of J&K, arguing that it comes in the way of the state’s economic growth and development.

Another rumour making rounds was that there may be a limited scale war with Pakistan along Line of Control (LoC). There were unconfirmed reports that a large number of local policemen on guard duties have been asked to deposit their weapons with the respective district police lines at the earliest. Security was also withdrawn from some isolated shrines, government offices and bridges.

The day started with the news that Center has decided to rush additional 28000 central armed police forces to Kashmir to augment the existing deployment. In the morning another report said that the Army and Air Force have been put on high operational alert in the state.

In the afternoon, the state government issued an advisory asking Amarnath yatris and tourists to immediately make necessary arrangements to cut short their stay in the Valley and return as soon as possible in the wake of intelligence inputs of “specific threats” to the pilgrimage.

A flurry of developments within a day gave rise to a common fear among locals who went into panic buying of essential commodities. There were huge queues outside petrol pumps, ATM machines and grocery stores.

The developments drew sharp criticism from Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, the former chief ministers of the state. Mehbooba, in a tweet, said the Centre’s move of deploying additional security personnel in the Valley “has created fear psychosis among people.”

Omar said the deployment of additional forces may lead to the situation “worsening” in the Valley.

Sources told DH that entire valley may be under the cover of the military as some major announcement is in the offing and it might be announced on Saturday.