SRINAGAR: As PM reaches Kashmir for talks, security forces averted two major tragedies when they detected and defused two powerful IEDs planted by militants.

 

Official sources said security forces found an IED in a bag in the general bus stand at Anantnag on Wednesday.

 

A report from Baramulla said militants had planted a powerful IED Khawaja Bagh near flood gate to target security forces. However, an alert security official noticed the IED and the bomb disposal squad was immediately summoned who defused it.

 

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reached Srinagar on Wednesday morning for a two-day visit to the Kashmir valley amidst stringent security measures.

 

Singh, who is presiding over the roundtable conference on Kashmir, is also scheduled to review the progress of work on the reconstruction plan announced by him for the state in 2004.

 

The Prime Minister will hold the second roundtable on Kashmir here but will not separately meet Hurriyat leaders who have decided to boycott it.

 

The two-day conclave, the second in three months, is expected to evolve a mechanism through sub-groups to address specific issues like security, economic development, human rights and cross-LoC travel and trade.

 

With militants stepping up violence, a thick security blanket has been put in place for the Prime Minister's visit, the second in six months.

 

Geelani under house arrest:


Chairman of the breakaway Hurriyat Conference (HC) Syed Ali Shah Geelani was on Wednesday put under house arrest, official sources said.

 

They said Geelani, who rejected the offer of round table conference on Kashmir, was put under house arrest at Hyderpora since early Wednesday morning as a precautionary measure.