The forces on Saturday launched a cordon-and-search operation (CASO) in commercial hub of Lal Chowk in Srinagar. A joint search operation was launched by Army, Special Operations Group of police and CRPF in the Court Road and the Bund area after inputs about presence of militants there.
The forces were carrying heavy ammunition including RPGs and few Rakshak (Bulletproof) vehicles also took positions at a distance. The troops laid siege around the area to conduct the searches. Witnesses said forces conducted searches in five hotels of Bhat complex, other restaurants and shops in the area. However, no contact was established with militants and neither any militant was found during the search operation.
The search operation seemed to be speculative and lasted for nearly an hour. It triggered chaos among shopkeepers, roadside vendors and pedestrians, who were taken by sudden surprise. “I could not understand what was going to happen. People were looking to move to safer places as soon as possible. Some gathered near the area to see what was happening,” said a witness, Zahoor Ahmad.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Srinagar, Imtiaz Ismail Parray, termed the search operation as routine. “It was routine area domination and there was nothing. There was no information about militants,” he said.
The CASO is actually planned to check the movement of militants. It was the first time after so many years that police, paramilitary forces and army conducted CASO in city. The CASO were so far restricted to south and North Kashmir, where many encounters have taken place between militants and forces
