Srinagar, April 5
Security personnel today recovered 20 kg of improvised explosive device (IED) in Pattan area along with proposed Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus route which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is scheduled to flag off on April 7.
The 20-kg IED, planted in a tin can by the roadside, was detected by a patrol party of the Border Security Force at Palhalan, 30 km from here, in Baramula district, official sources said. On Saturday, the BSF had recovered 117 kg of explosives from Arampora-Sopora, off the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road.
Meanwhile, security fears notwithstanding, the Jammu and Kashmir government successfully conducted a partial dry run of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service yesterday. Two buses, which were scheduled to ply from Sringar to the Kamaan post at the Line of Control (LoC) on April 7, were sent on a dry run from Baramula to the LoC amid tight security.
The buses returned to Srinagar later in the evening escorted by a security detail. The state government said as the partial dry run between Srinagar and Kamaan had been completed successfully, the reverse run was not required. It also said that security arrangements along the route had been checked during test run.
However. another dry run of another bus scheduled to travel from Srinagar to the Kamaan bridge could not be undertaken as security checks at some place along the route had not been completed.
Both the state and central governments are reportedly concerned about the safety of the first batch of passengers, not only because of the threat from militants, but also from stray unexploded mines.
So high is the security concern, that the passengers slated to travel on April 7 are in virtual confinement, sources here said.
While 10 of the passengers have been lodged in Srinagar’s high security Tourist Reception Centre (TRC), 12 residents from Jammu have been placed inside a protected zone in the city.
The security forces whisked away the passengers immediately as they were brought here from different places amid unprecedented security.
Meanwhile, in what is seen as an unprecedented move, India has permitted 10 Pakistani journalists to visit the Kashmir valley to cover the inaugural run of the bus.
This is the first time that New Delhi has allowed the Pakistani journalists to come here to cover an official event, that has caught the attention of the world media.
Mr Zahid Hussein, Editor of Karachi-based Newsline, and Mr Imtiaz Gul, senior columnist of the Islamabad-based Friday Times, have already reached Srinagar for the event. A team of five media personnel from a private Pakistani television news channel will arrive here tomorrow. —
ANI/UNI
