To ensure foolproof security during the Parliamentary polls, security forces have launched search operations in the higher reaches of the mountains in Jammu region. Security forces are on high alert and are taking all necessary measures to ward off attempts by terrorists to disrupt the poll process, officials said.

“The security forces are getting to the middle and higher reaches to carry out search operations and flush out militants in order to secure the parliamentary elections,” said Deputy Inspector General of Police of the Doda-Ramban range, H K Lohia. He stated that the dhoks of Gujjars and Bakerwals are also being combed in the process. “The police, with the help of the Army, are searching for militant hideouts and destroying them on spot. The natural caves inside the mountains, which are at times used by militants, are also

being searched.”

The search operations are being taken up after intelligence inputs indicated the presence of terrorists or their hideouts, sources said.

Lohia said that “former overground workers and surrendered militants are being roped in by the security forces to develop information about the presence of militants and their hideouts”. He added that Saturday’s operation in Doda in which militants escaped after injuring two security personnel — an Army jawan and a J&K police constable — was also one such operation.