Jammu:
Jammu and Kashmir police on Monday ruled out "any recent specific inputs" of threat to Vaishno Devi cave shrine from militants but said elaborate security arrangements have been made to protect the shrine.
"Threats have always remained for the holy shrine. As such, we do not have any recent specific input," Inspector General of Police (IGP), Jammu Zone, Ashok Kumar Gupta told reporters.
Replying to questions over the threat to the shrine in view of the statement made by government in Parliament recently, the IGP said, "Let me make a request. It is a sensitive issue, which was perhaps blown out of proportion."
It may be recalled that on March 2 in a written reply to a query whether Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu is one of the targets on the radar of terrorists, Minister of State for Home Affairs Mullappally Ramachandran had said, "Central security agencies have furnished inputs based on intelligence intercepts to that effect. It is not in public interest to disclose these facts."
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had sent advisories to the state government to prepare appropriate security plans in order to secure and protect the religious place.
"But that does not mean having said so we will or we are planning to lower guards. Absolutely not," Kumar said in reply to a question.
He further said that a series of meetings have taken place to further strengthen the security of the shrine.