Srinagar: As Union Home Minister Amit Shah reached Srinagar, around 50 km away, a gunfight raged on in south Kashmir's Shopian district. Kashmir Zone police said on Twitter that an encounter had started at Drach area in Shopian. "Police and security forces are on the job. Further details shall follow," the police said in a tweet.
The gunfight began almost parallelly to Amit Shah's arrival in Srinagar. Shah was received by senior civil and police officers and some BJP leaders at the Srinagar International airport, where he arrived from the Jammu region at around 7 pm. He will be staying at the Raj Bhavan for the night, where LG Manoj Sinha will host dinner.
The Union home minister set off the three-day tour of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday. He met several delegations on Monday, and on Tuesday, he visited Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine at Katra and addressed a public rally in Rajouri. On the Shah's Kashmir itinerary is a public rally in Baramulla on Wednesday and a security review meeting, the officials said.
They said the focus of the meeting will be on tackling the attacks on the non-locals in the Kashmir valley. The meeting will be attended by LG Sinha, senior officers of police, central armed police forces (CAPFs) and officers of various intelligence agencies. The launch and foundation laying of various development projects in Srinagar is also on Shah's list, the officials said, adding he will then return to Delhi the same evening.
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Security has been tightened in the valley for the Shah's visit. The officials said multi-tier security has been put in place and drones are being used for aerial surveillance as well.
The checking on Srinagar-Baramulla highway has been intensified, while additional police and paramilitary personnel have been deployed to keep a close watch on the situation, they said. Patrolling has been intensified at many places, especially on the Srinagar-Baramulla-Kupwara highway, the officials added.
The rally venue has been turned into a fortress, they said. The BJP has said Shah's Baramulla rally will be historic. "This will be the biggest rally in the history of north Kashmir," BJP's J-K unit president Ravinder Raina said.
