Police on high alert, militant act suspected
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, July 3: Indicating presence of militants within or outskirts of Kishtwar town, police and CRPF have seized a sophisticated drone fitted with cameras flying over high-security District Jail in Kishtwar, which housed number of Kashmiri and local militants, which had reportedly been pressed to take pictures of sensitive installations in the district by the suspected militants or their sympathizers.
The drone has been seized and was being examined by the experts to see the footage obtained by the camera fitted in it amidst reports that it had flown over some of the sensitive installations before crashing against a tower in the District Jail.
Confirming the incident, SSP Kishtwar Shakti Pathak told the Excelsior that the drone spotted by the CRPF personnel in the jail after it crashed has been seized and police was trying to obtain footage taken by the camera fitted with it. Click here to watch video
“Definitely, it’s not an ordinary drone. Maybe it had flown with a specific mission,” Pathak said, adding police was also trying to ascertain supplier and purchaser of the drone but all marks on the object had been erased including name of the Company.
The District Jail Kishtwar housed militants including those hailing from Kashmir and half a dozen locals, who have been arrested under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.
Police is already maintaining high alert in Kishtwar following reports that some militants might be present in the town with a view to carry out terror act including selective killings of the leaders of minorities.
The SSP Kishtwar said at least eight local militants were active in the district along with four to five others. The others could be Pakistani as well as Kashmiri militants.
Pathak said the militants have specific plans to revive militancy in Kishtwar and Doda districts but added that police was fully prepared to deal with any eventuality and ensure that plans of the militants are thwarted and they are eliminated.
“Joint police teams of Army and police were regularly conducting search operations in the upper reaches of Kishtwar to eliminate the militants,” Pathak said.
Meanwhile, according to sources, the militants involved in the killings of BJP senior leader Anil Parihar and his brother Ajit Parihar on November 1 last year and prominent RSS functionary Chanderkant Sharma and his Personal Security Officer (PSO) Rajinder Kumar on April 9 this year, were also reportedly hiding in the upper reaches of Kishtwar.
However, a couple of them might have fled to South Kashmir, they said.
The killers of BJP and RSS leaders haven’t been eliminated or arrested so far though all of them have been identified.
Police have specific inputs that the militants were planning to carry out fresh attack in Kishtwar. In view of the inputs, security in Kishtwar town and outskirts has been beefed up.
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