When Bandipore district goes to polls on Monday, other parts of the Valley will be put under an undeclared curfew to avoid anti-poll protests.Director General of Police Kuldeep Khuda told a press conference that they would take “all the necessary action” to prevent the separatist protests and declined to explain the security plans. Sources reveal that the police have made elaborate arrangements to restrict free movement of people in almost every district other than Bandipore, where three constituencies will go to polls. In fact, a detailed deployment of Central Reserve Police Force has already been done in Srinagar city to thwart the separatist plans of protest. Additional 500 companies of Central forces, especially sent by the Centre for poll duty, have already been deployed across the state, especially Kashmir valley.The police have already started putting up barricades in Srinagar city, sealing roads and lanes while similar blockades are being put in almost every town. The movement on Jammu-Srinagar national highway too will be affected by the elaborate security arrangement.In Bandipore, police sources say, additional security has been deployed around the residences of the candidates contesting the polls. Two main separatist leaders, who have not been put behind bars as yet, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Sajjad Lone, have been put under indefinite house arrest.The separatist Co-ordination Committee, however, managed to hold a meeting on Sunday and subsequently, gave a call for Bandipore march as part of its anti-election campaign. Although Mirwaiz could not make it to the meeting, the second-rung Hurriyat leadership and bar association joined it. The separatists have asked the people from across the Valley to gather at Jamia mosque in Srinagar and then subsequently, join the march to Bandipore. It is, however, highly unlikely that the Government will allow it.
