Jammu on "high alert" amid hunt for Amritpal Singh in Punjab; security intensified [details]

A high alert has been sounded in Jammu and extraordinary security precautions were taken to check the movement of suspicious elements on the highly sensitive Jammu-Pathankot national highway. These steps have been taken after the launching of a big offensive by Punjab Police against the pro-Khalistan leader and chief of Wasis Punjab De Amritpal Singh.

Checking at Lakhanpal-the gateway of Jammu and Kashmir has been intensified and all routes of the Union Territory connecting Punjab have been sealed with the deployment of additional forces to foil any attempt of radical elements to enter this part of the country.

Additional forces were deployed on Jammu-Pathankot national highway to seal it and check all movements on and around the national highway.

Forces have been deployed at the Himachal Pradesh-Punjab checkpoint as a beefed-up security measure on the highway, sources said. The security setup along the highway is on high alertness and checkings have been intensified as a measure to foil any design of anti-national elements, they said.

The security grid has been put on high alert and security has been tightened at checking points on the Jammu-Pathankot national highway in Kathua, Samba, and Jammu districts.

Home Ministry sounds alert to foil any attempt of Amritpal to escape.

Reports said that the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has issued directions to different states to be on high alert in frontier areas in view of a possible attempt by Amritpal Singh to escape the country.

The officials said even the immigration authorities at international airports had been asked to remain on alert.

Alert has already been sounded in Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh to foil any attempt of Amritpal Singh to escape.

Two pictures of Amritpal Singh flashed in all airports.

Reports said two pictures of Amritpal Singh-with and without a turban have been flashed in all airports in Punjab and adjoining states to check his movement.

After Punjab Police declared Amritpal a "fugitive", intelligence agencies have sounded that there is a possibility that he could try to cross the India-Nepal border or the International Border in Punjab.

Forces deployed at the Indo-Nepal border and the International Border of Punjab have been asked to be on alert and to sensitize all personnel deployed at the border posts, reports said.

Amritpal Singh managed to escape when Punjab Police reached to arrest him from Mehatpur on the Jalandhar-Moga road on Saturday. He left his vehicle and mobile phone near Nakodar and escaped from the cordon and the police.

The hunt for Amritpal has been continuing with the district police chiefs carrying out flag marches in major towns in Punjab.