Pahalgam terror attack: Security beefed up in Jammu amid call for protests
Jammu: Security has been beefed up across Jammu as various outfits have called for protests on Wednesday to condemn a deadly terror attack on tourists in south Kashmir’s Pahalgam tourist resort, officials said.
Terrorists opened fire at a famed meadow near Pahalgam town on Tuesday afternoon, killing at least 26 people, mostly tourists, in the deadliest attack in the valley since the Pulwama strike in 2019.
The 26 deceased included two foreigners and two locals, a high-ranking official said, without getting into details.
The Jammu and Kashmir unit of the Congress and several right-wing groups have announced major protests in Jammu city and elsewhere on Wednesday.
Officials said a high-level security meeting, jointly chaired by Jammu Divisional Commissioner Ramesh Kumar and Inspector General of Police, Jammu, Bhim Sen Tuti, is underway at the Police Control Room here to chalk out a strategy to deal with the situation.
Additional police and paramilitary forces have already been deployed in sensitive areas as a precautionary measure to maintain peace and law and order, they said.
The Congress has asked all its leaders and workers of the Jammu urban and rural blocks and frontal wings to assemble at the party headquarters here on Wednesday morning for a protest against the terror attack.
The Shiv Sena (UBT), the Dogra Front and the Rashtriya Bajrang Dal, besides the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, lawyers and various market associations have also called for protests in the city on Wednesday.
Mission Statehood president Sunil Dimple staged an anti-Pakistan protest in Jammu city, while reports of agitations also came in from various district headquarters, including Doda, Kathua and Poonch.
Meanwhile, anti-Pakistan protests were held in Jammu city following the terror attack with protestors demanding an operation to flush out terrorists from Jammu and Kashmir.
Led by its president Rakesh Kumar, Rashtriya Bajrang Dal (RBD) took out a protest march in Jammu city against the attack. They raised slogans against Pakistan and burnt its flag.
Kumar condemned the attack on tourists in Jammu and Kashmir, terming it a “targeted killing of Hindus.”
“This attack took place just ahead of the Amarnath Yatra. Registration for the yatra has only recently begun, and this act is clearly aimed at creating a fear among the Hindu pilgrims,” Kumar told reporters here.
“Survivors say the terrorists asked for the identity of the victims before killing them, which clearly indicates a targeted assault,” he said.
Another protest was held by the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha in the Muthi area of the city, demanding stern action to eliminate terrorists responsible for the act. They raised slogans against Pakistan and terrorists.
