Security heightened in Kashmir as Donald Trump's India visit begins

As US President Donald Trump arrived on a two-day visit to India on Monday, extraordinary security arrangements have been made in Kashmir to prevent any attempt by subversive elements to disrupt peace in the Valley during the visit.

A senior J&K police officer said that special security check posts at all entry and exit posts in Srinagar city and major towns of the Valley have been setup. “Security forces have been asked to intensify area domination patrols especially during night hours to check the movement of suspected persons,” he said.

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However, the officer said, there was no specific input about any possible militant attack during these two-days. “Inputs keep coming, but there is nothing specific,” he added.

A senior army official said Indian the force has strengthened its security grid along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir to thwart any nefarious plot of Pakistan during President Trump’s visit to India.

“To keep track of Pakistan’s activities, the Indian Army has geared itself while the patrolling of the jawans along the border is also increased besides installation of hi-tech and modern equipment for monitoring the situation across,” he said.

It may be pertinent to mention here that on 20 March, 2000, 35 Sikh men were killed in cold blood by a group of masked gunmen in army fatigues when then president of the US, Bill Clinton was on a visit to India. The gunmen, who descended on the village of Chati Singhpura in south Kashmir’s Anantnag, 64 kilometers from here, ordered the men out of their houses before shooting them at point-blank range.

The attack, its timing on the eve of Clinton's five-day tour of India - with all the western media coverage such a visit generates - was unlikely to have been coincidental.

On Saturday a Sikh organisation in Kashmir asked community members to remain vigilant ahead of President Trump''s visit to India, saying such high profile visits bring back memories of Chattisinghpora massacre.

“The visit of a high profile foreign personality especially that from the US leads to fear psychosis and panic among the Sikhs living in the valley. The whole India seems to be busy in making preparations for Trump’s visit, but for Sikhs of Kashmir, the visit has brought with it fears that the members of the community are yet again on the radar,” All Parties Sikh Coordination Committee (APSCC) chairman Jagmohan Singh Raina said in a statement, here.

He said it is highly unfortunate that neither the government of India nor the successive state governments reached to any conclusion with respect to identifying the killers of the Sikhs.