SRINAGAR Panic gripped Srinagars commercial hub Lal Chowk on Friday when over a dozen armoured vehicles belonging to the army, Special Operations Group (SoG) of J&K Police and the anti-fidayeen squad of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) emerged there and took positions on various crossings and on surrounding buildings.
Though no searches were conducted there mere presence of heavily armed forces personnel in full battle gear sparked scare with pedestrians and shoppers rushing out of commercial nerve centre of the capital city apprehending a ‘crackdown’.
[[{“type”:”media”,”fid”:”34996″,”view_mode”:”wysiwyg”,”instance_fields”:”override”}]]
Earlier armed force personnel in armoured vehicles emerged in city centre Lal Chowk twice in last two years. First on September 15, 2016 and again on June 10, 2017.
Traders in the city centre said that the way soldiers and other forces personnel all of a sudden emerged here they felt if any militant was present in the area.
The forces personnel even occupied building roofs and remained present in the area for more than an hour.
SSP Srinagar, Imtiyaz Ismail Parray when contacted said it was a routine exercise drill.
Follow this link to join our WhatsApp group: Join Now
Be Part of Quality Journalism |
Quality journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce and despite all the hardships we still do it. Our reporters and editors are working overtime in Kashmir and beyond to cover what you care about, break big stories, and expose injustices that can change lives. Today more people are reading Kashmir Observer than ever, but only a handful are paying while advertising revenues are falling fast. |
| ACT NOW |
| MONTHLY | Rs 100 | |
| YEARLY | Rs 1000 | |
| LIFETIME | Rs 10000 | |