Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who is on a three-day visit to the state of Jammu and Kashmir, is scheduled to address a public rally in Rajouri today. On reaching Jammu on Monday, the home minister in a tweet said “through the medium of different programmes, I’m eager to have a dialogue with the people of J&K”.
The home minister is expected to announce the ST reservation for the Pahari community during his public rally in Rajouri, as per news agency IANS. Members of the Pahari community from different parts of Rajouri and the neighbouring Poonch district have reached Rajouri town ahead of Amit Shah's public rally, IANS reported.
On Monday evening, Shah met delegations of Paharis, Gujjars, Bakarwals, Dogras and Sikhs at the Raj Bhavan in Jammu.
Multi-tier security arrangements have been put in place ahead of the Union Home Minister's public rally in Rajouri, officials told PTI. The venue of the rally has been sealed by the security forces and only those carrying special passes are allowed to enter it, the officials said, adding the Army has increased its vigil in the entire region, especially in Rajouri town and the border areas.
Security forces conducted cordon and search operations at multiple locations in Rajouri on Monday.
Joint teams of Army, police and paramilitary forces launched a cordon and search operation (CASO) in Chechra forest, Seeran and Dassal Jattan and conducted a thorough screening of the area for any suspicious movement, the officials said.
CASO is part of heightened security arrangements which were put in place in the border district ahead of the high-profile visit.
All the intelligence agencies are maintaining the highest level of alertness, and police and paramilitary forces are taking utmost care of security arrangements in their areas of jurisdiction, a security official said.
(With agencies' inputs)