Iron gate installed at a colony near Sunjwan military base; the 100-odd households have raised funds for setting it up. (Express Photo: Arun Sharma)
Days after three heavily armed militants barged into Sunjwan military station and killed six soldiers and a civilian in the family quarters there, residents outside the boundary wall of the cantonment have started making their own arrangements to regulate entry of outsiders through their locality.
At Gole Masjid Faridiya Enclave in Jalalabad area, from where security agencies suspect militants had entered the military station, the 100 or so households in the area have installed an iron gate at the only road leading in from the east.
A seasonal nullah flows on its northwest and to prevent entrance from that side, the residents have decided to get a wall of iron-sheet constructed all along its bank. A contractor has started laying the iron angles for it.
Faridiya Enclave’s other two sides face the boundary wall of the military station as a natural barrier for unwanted entrance. Almost all residents of the colony are from the Muslim community, and they have raised Rs 5 lakh from own contribution to build the security apparatus.
With the construction of a wall along the nullah, the only entrance to the colony will be through the newly constructed main gate, which will be manned by retired security forces personnel round the clock, said Haji Abdul Rashid Qazi, a retired state government employee. “We will contribute to pay their (guards’) salary,’’ he added.
Besides getting rooms constructed for the guards to stay, the residents have also brought electric poles to ensure adequate light in the area at night. They are also making provisions for CCTV cameras at various places.
Residents have also asked Rohingya refugees there to relocate. Although there are only a few such refugees in the locality, and “they are only running a madrasa here, their presence is making all of us suspect”, said Abdul Rehman, another resident.
“We have always had good rapport with the soldiers at the military station, and even after the terror attack, there has been no change in their attitude,” he said.
While there was some tension for the first three or four days after the attack, everything was normal thereafter, said Abdul Kareem. “The soldiers come into the area, move along their peripheral wall and return. They do not disturb anyone,” he added.
The police have started collecting details of people living outside the boundary wall of the military station.
Recently the Army complained about stone-pelting on a sentry post at the boundary wall of the military station, a police official said. Army officers suspect it was the work of some juveniles; the police picked up a few suspects and let them go after questioning. “Apart from stepping up night patrolling, we have also deployed policemen in strength in the area,’’ the police official said.
“Until last year, I used to bring grass for my cattle from inside the military station,’’ said Mohammad Sultan, a Gujjar living along with his cattle outside the military station’s boundary wall in Chowadhi area. “After the terror attack, soldiers often come to the area for patrolling.”
A number of locals have their children studying at Kendriya Vidayala or the Army Public School located inside the military station. It is locals who have been supplying milk and vegetables to soldiers’ families.
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