Jammu: Bharat Jodo Yatra continues amid tight security in Kathua of Jammu and Kashmir

The Bharat Jodo Yatra led by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi resumed Sunday from Hiranagar in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district amid heightened security following two blasts in Jammu. After a day’s rest, the march began as planned around 7am from Hiranagar near the international border along the Jammu-Pathankot highway, which was cordoned off by police and other security forces.

Accompanied by Vicar Rasool Wani, Congress leader of JK Pradesh, Labor President Raman Bhalla and hundreds of volunteers wearing the tricolor, Gandhi entered the Samba district’s Tapyal gagwal at around 8am after passing the Londi checkpoint and was greeted by enthusiastic workers and supporters waiting on either side of the street.

After covering about 25 km, the march will stop at Chak Nanak for the night before continuing from Sambas Vijaypur to Jammu, where it will arrive on Monday.

Officials said proper security arrangements were in place for Gandhi, with police, CRPF and other security agencies keeping a tight watch to ensure a peaceful march.

Security was further tightened in Jammu and Kashmir after two bomb blasts in the Narwhal area on the outskirts of the city of Jammu on Saturday, injuring nine people.

Police suspect IEDs were used to carry out the twin explosions in an SUV parked at a repair shop and in a vehicle at a nearby junkyard in Narwal’s Transport Nagar district.

The terrorist attack comes at a time when security agencies in the region are on high alert following the congressional yatra and the upcoming Republic Day celebrations. The march began in Kanyakumari on September 7 and entered Jammu and Kashmir from Punjab on Thursday.

The yatra is scheduled to end on January 30 in Srinagar with Gandhi raising the national flag at the Congress headquarters.