RDX recovered ahead of Sonia visit to J&K

TERROR TARGET? Sonia is scheduled to meet people in the snow-affected areas of the state.

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New Delhi: The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) recovered 4 kg of RDX and large amounts of ammunition from a hideout at Chinnot village near Bhadarwah in Jammu and Kashmir late on Thursday night, hours before Congress President Sonia Gandhi was scheduled to visit the area on Friday.

The UPA Chairperson will be addressing a rally about 1 km away from the spot from where the explosives were recovered. She is also scheduled to meet people in the snow-affected areas of the state along with Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil.

No one has been arrested in connection with the recovery. The Inspector General of CRPF, JC Dabas, confirmed that a terrorist hideout was busted about one kilometer from the rally spot and an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) recovered.

The IED was later defused, officials said. Top authorities visited the spot and gave instructions to further tighten vigilance in the area, the added.

The recovery of such a large quantity of explosives has thrown the security apparatus into a tizzy. Many security experts view it as serious lapse as Sonia’s security arrangements are so stringent that her tour programme is not made public.

The Special Protection Group (SPG) looks after Sonia’s inner security cordon and SPG team travels to her rally venues at least a week in advance to check the security arrangements.

The area is cordoned off at least 24 hours and now experts are raising questions as to why the cache of explosives not discovered before and why was the area not sanitised properly?

During her visit, Sonia will be make an aerial survey of worst-hit Kapran, Verinag and Dooru areas of Anantnag district in south Kashmir. The state was witness to several avalanches triggered by continuous heavy snowfall earlier in the month in which 30 people, including several Army personnel died.

Upon her arrival J&K Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, Union Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz and several ministers in Azad's Cabinet received the Congress President.

Sonia would also interact with officers and Congress party leaders at Khanbal Dak Bungalow in Anantnag district briefly stop over at Srinagar and then return to New Delhi.

The high-altitude areas of Kapran, Verinag and Waltango in Dooru assembly constituency were also the worst hit when 290 people died in a series of avalanches in April 2005.

Meanwhile, there was a blast in Srinagar's lower court building in which four lawyers have been injured.

The explosion took place inside police the ammunition depot inside the lower court premises.

(With inputs from PTI)