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Last Updated: Feb 18th, 2008 - 14:39:01 |
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - From the mountains of Kashmir to the forests of central India and the troubled towns of its remote northeast, troops are on the streets in a major security crackdown ahead of Independence Day celebrations.
India celebrates the 60th anniversary of independence from British rule on Wednesday, a day traditionally marked by violent attacks by separatist militants or Maoist rebels, and security forces are on their highest level of alert in many areas.
In New Delhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will unfurl the national flag from the ramparts of the historic Red Fort on Wednesday morning to a 21-gun salute, and then address the nation in a speech expected to laud six decades of progress.
Sharpshooters will be stationed on rooftops in the cluttered streets around the fort while helicopters will fly overhead.
Police are already monitoring traffic entering Delhi and the financial centre of Mumbai, both of which have been frequently targeted by militants.
"We are by and large, very well prepared," said top Delhi Police official S.B.S. Deol. "It is a battle against preparedness and the other man -- who has a little bit of an advantage, the fact that he has made up his mind what he is going to do."
But about 1,400 km (900 miles) away in the remote northeast, separatists in the oil- and tea-rich state of Assam have already killed 30 people since Wednesday, including women and children, all of them Hindi-speaking settlers.
The army has intensified patrols and aerial surveillance of Assam's hills and forests, while armed police have mounted roadblocks outside major towns and conducted house-to-house searches in some areas.
Police say more attacks are planned, with reports guerrillas have sneaked into Assam's main city Guwahati and other towns from hideouts in neighboring Bangladesh and Myanmar.
"We have enough intelligence inputs suggesting the militants are out to create trouble before and on August 15," a senior police officer said on condition of anonymity.
The United Liberation Front of Asom has been fighting for independence since 1979 and accuses New Delhi and non-Assamese people of plundering Assam's resources and ruining its culture.
MISERY FOR KASHMIRIS
Life has once again been seriously disrupted in Kashmir by a security crackdown, with unpopular "cordon and search" operations and frisking of civilians stepped up.
"Our locality has witnessed four search operations in the past six days. It is disturbing our daily routine," said schoolteacher Bilkees Khan, adding that Independence Day and January's Republic Day "only bring misery to us".
In Bandipur town, around 65 km (40 miles) north of Srinagar, Indian Kashmir's summer capital, suspected separatist militants killed two civilians and wounded a dozen others in a grenade attack aimed at the security forces on Monday, police said.
Kashmiri separatist groups have called for a general strike on August 15, calling it a "black day" and the celebrations "meaningless" until Kashmir got freedom from Indian rule.
In eastern India, Maoist insurgents have distributed leaflets in towns and villages asking people to boycott the celebrations.
Thousands of police have been deployed to guard railway stations, airports and government buildings as well as power plants and factories in the region.
"We are very careful this year and have dozens of plainclothes policemen traveling in trains and buses looking for anyone suspicious," said Raj Kanojia, a top police officer.
Additional forces have also been deployed along India's porous border with Bangladesh.
Despite the threats, most of the country is expecting to celebrate the holiday in peace. Colorful lights and paper flags festoon the streets of Kolkata.
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