People asked not to visit forests wearing blankets during night hours in Rajouri

Rajouri/Jammu, Jul 30 (PTI) In an attempt to avoid any untoward incident amid intensified anti-terror operations, the authorities in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district on Tuesday advised people not to visit the forest areas wearing shawls and blankets during night hours.

The advisory has been issued by Additional District Magistrate Rajeev Kumar Khajuria on the request of the army, which informed the civil administration about some civilians roaming in the forest areas or their fields wearing shawls and blankets during night hours.

“General public is hereby informed that no person shall visit, roam in the forest area during late and night hours from 9 pm to 4 am, wearing shawls and blankets,” Khajuria said in an official notice.

The movement has been strictly prohibited without prior permission from concerned army and police authorities in order to avoid any mishap or untoward incident, he said.

Security forces are undertaking frequent search operations in the forests of Rajouri and adjoining Poonch district to track down and neutralize the terrorists, who have managed to infiltrate from across the border and are hiding in the areas.

Earlier this month, the authorities in Mendhar sector of Poonch issued a similar notice asking people not to visit the forest areas or their fields during night hours without prior permission from the concerned army or police camp.

Security has been intensified across Jammu region which has witnessed a spurt in terror activities with three major attacks taking place in the past two months.

Nine army personnel were killed when the terrorists ambushed security forces in remote forest belts of Machedi in Kathua and Desa forest in Doda on July 8 and July 15.

Earlier on June 9, nine passengers, including seven pilgrims returning from Shiv Khori temple, were killed by the terrorists in Reasi district.