SRINAGAR - Occupied Jammu and Kashmir Police has put a red alert across the Valley following inputs about Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) planning a siege on the hanging anniversary of Afzal Guru.
The Hurriyat has also called for a shutdown (bandh) on February 9 to mark Guru's death anniversary and pay tributes to him.
Afzal Guru was a resident of Doibagh in Baramulla's Sopore district and was hanged in New Delhi's Tihar Jail on February 9, 2013 in secrecy and then buried there itself.
Guru was held for 2001 Parliament attack link>that claimed the lives of six Delhi Police, two Parliament security service personnel and a gardener.
The separatists have called the bandh in honour of another separatist Maqbool Bhat, who was the co-founder of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front. Bhat was hanged in Tihar Jail on February 11, 1984.
According to an official communication flashed to all senior superintendents of police (SSPs), terror organisation JeM might strike any day between February 5-11 as sign of respect to Guru and Bhat.
"The death anniversary of Afzal Guru and Maqbool Bhat falls on February 9 and 11 respectively. So, militants may carry out grenade attacks on forces and may resort to IED blasts as well," reads the official letter.
The document further states that a high level vigil needs to be maintained for the stipulated period from 11pm-6am.
"All district SSPs will brief their officers/men on ground and other sister agencies regarding the threat perception" during this period. "We need to take all preventive measures to thwart the nefarious designs of the militants, the document reads.
A senior police official, privy to the input, said that there is every possibility that the Afzal Guru Squad (AGS) of Jaish-e-Mohammed may strike anywhere in Kashmir by or before Guru's death anniversary.