Security agencies maintain tight vigil

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JAN. 26. Barring an abortive bid by the militants in North Kashmir's Baramulla district and a powerful bomb blast in a bus in Rishikesh in Uttaranchal which left two persons dead, the 52nd Republic Day celebrations by and large passed off peacefully across the country as security agencies and the police personnel remained in a state of high alert.

With threats of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba militant outfit to disrupt Republic Day celebrations and target VVIPs in the national Capital looming large, security and intelligence agencies stretched their resources to maximum to prepare the blueprint for an almost foolproof security plan and implement it on the ground.

As the President, the Vice-President, the Prime Minister, the visiting Algerian President, members of diplomatic corps, Union Ministers, and top officials watched the two-hour long parade from Raj Path, security personnel and the Delhi policemen stood guard and also fanned out across a five-km exclusive zone to keep a vigil on the possible troublemakers.

Justifying the tight security blanket laid out over the national Capital, the Union Home Minister, Mr. L.K.Advani, had said that there was a threat from militant outfits and the Government had to be ``careful.'' He said the threat had been there ever since proxy-war had been launched against the country.

With reports of four Lashkar operatives sneaking into the Capital to target Mr. Advani, security and intelligence agencies were on their toes over the past few days and enforced strict security measures on ground. Several reviews of the security arrangements were undertaken at a number of high-level meetings of the Home and Defence Ministries as well as of the intelligence agencies. The Union Home Secretary, Mr. Kamal Pande, had said that ``appropriate measures'' were being taken in view of the intercepts of militant outfits seized by the intelligence agencies. Intelligence inputs had pointed to a ``fidayeen'' (suicide) attack by the Lashkar operatives.

Two policemen were injured when a militant hurled a grenade from the nearby hills before and during the Republic Day function in Baramulla town in North Kashmir but the celebrations went on unhindered. In the newly-carved out Uttaranchal in the Western hills of Uttar Pradesh, a powerful bomb exploded in a bus parked at the Rishikesh bus stand in the early hours today, killing the driver and the conductor.

In the militancy-affected North-Eastern States of Assam, Manipur, Nagaland and Tripura, the Republic Day celebrations went off peacefully amidst tight security arrangements. According to reports received here, 138 militants, belonging to the ULFA and the NDFB, surrendered before the Assam Governor, Lt-Gen. (Retd.) S.K. Sinha. In the North Bengal belt, adjoining the North-East, where Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO) had given a call to boycott the Republic Day celebrations, tight security arrangements were enforced and the day passed off peacefully.

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