Jammu, Jan 21: As Republic Day is nearing, safety protocols are being significantly tightened across Jammu, with security forces on Wednesday conducting house to house searches in a locality with a large concentration of Rohingya Muslims, officials said.

They said additional Army troops were inducted in the higher reaches of Kishtwar district on day four of the ongoing search operation to flush out terrorists, who have escaped into deep forest after an encounter on Sunday.

Police, assisted by the Central Reserve Police Force personnel, are carrying out house to house searches at Bhatindi-Narwal-Rajiv Nagar area in the outskirts of Jammu city, officials said.

The locality houses a large number of settlements of Rohingya and Bangladeshi Muslims. The search operation focused on their slums, they said, adding that no one was detained so far.

The move is part of the stringent security arrangements being made to ensure peaceful Republic Day celebrations and thwart any attempt by terrorists to cause disruption, they added.

According to officials, the security forces have already strengthened the border security grid and highway security by intensifying surveillance, checking and frisking.

In Kishtwar, additional troops were mobilised in Sonnar, Mandral-Singhpora and adjoining areas in the Chatroo belt to speed up the ongoing search for terrorists, which the Army has named ‘Operation Trashi-I’.

The operation launched on Sunday had led to a gunfight, leaving one paratrooper dead and seven soldiers injured, primarily due to splinter injuries from a sudden grenade attack by hiding terrorists.

A major terrorist hideout was busted near the encounter site on Monday and several individuals were picked up for questioning, the officials said, adding that there was no fresh contact with the terrorists.

A group of two to three terrorists, allegedly affiliated with Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad, are believed to be trapped in the area, they said.

Security forces are also engaged in search and combing operations at dozens of places including Rajouri, Poonch, Samba, Kathua, Udhampur and Doda districts of Jammu, officials said.

Meanwhile, the Border Security Force (BSF) personnel destroyed a bag with a rusty mortar shell in a controlled explosion at the Border Outpost Bundtip in Samba district, the officials added.

They said the bag was seized from some labourers collecting scrap near the Basantar-Devika river confluence.

Jammu, Jan 21: For months, Rajesh Kumar and Bindiya from Punjab’s Jalandhar are living between despair and acceptance, searching in Jammu for answers about their 22-year-old daughter and her friend, who went missing after a cloudburst in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar district in August last year.

Another family from Jammu has lost eight members to the tragedy. The families say they are not asking for compensation but acknowledgement — death certificates that would allow them to perform the rituals for the dead.

As DNA reports remain pending, they say every passing day deepens the pain of not knowing whether to hold on to hope or accept the loss.

The devastating cloudburst struck Chisoti village — the gateway to the Machail Mata temple — on August 14, 2025, killing 65 people, mostly pilgrims, and leaving more than 30 missing.

Holding photographs of their daughter Vanshika and her friend Disha, Rajesh Kumar and Bindiya were among the several people who gathered outside the Press Club here on Wednesday, pressing for justice and answers.

“We were walking together. Our daughter and her friend went ahead of us and vanished without a trace. We are desperately waiting for some news and seeking justice,” an emotional Bindiya told PTI.

She accused the Jammu and Kashmir government of doing nothing for them so far. “We were called for DNA sampling in September but no report has been shared with us till date,” she said.

Kumar said the family made repeated efforts to trace the missing women. “We submitted affidavits to the sub-divisional magistrate for the death certificates and gave DNA samples on September 8 but till date, there is no word from the Jammu and Kashmir administration,” he said.

He said they have not received any compensation either. “My daughter and her friend were MBA students and we want the government to release their death certificates so that we can perform the necessary rituals,” he said.

A similar account was shared by Ramesh Kumar, a resident of Resham Garh Colony in Jammu, who witnessed eight of his relatives, including two sisters, perishing in the tragedy.

“We have only retrieved one body, while seven people — three women and four children — remain missing. We are not asking for money, we only want justice — death certificates before the completion of the six-month period since the deaths,” he said.

He said his sister and her two children — a seven-year-old girl and a five-year-old boy — are among the missing.

He claimed that there was mismanagement from day one of the tragedy.

“My friends helped me retrieve the lone body from the scene, while no one from the administration extended any support. Our parents are distressed. We want the missing to be declared dead so that we can at least perform the rituals,” he said, adding, “We cannot bring back those who are gone, but we deserve a closure.”

Jammu, Jan 21: House Listing Operations (HLO) will be conducted across Jammu and Kashmir from June 1 to 30 as part of the upcoming census exercise, with self-enumeration commencing 15 days prior, officials said on Wednesday.

The schedule was decided by the Union Territory Level Census Coordination Committee, which met here on Tuesday under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo, they said, adding that the government will issue the requisite notification by January 31.

To facilitate smooth self-enumeration, the services of technical assistants and charge officials will be utilised to guide the public during the 15 days preceding the field operations, officials said.

During the meeting, Director Census Operations, J-K and Ladakh, Amit Sharma, made a detailed presentation outlining the framework and key features of Census 2027, which will be India’s first fully digital census, they said.

The presentation highlighted major innovations such as the Census Management and Monitoring System (CMMS), provision for self-enumeration by citizens, and caste enumeration, which are being introduced, officials mentioned further.

The sequence of census activities, including training, self-enumeration, house listing and population enumeration, along with detailed timelines, was also elaborated, they added.

Emphasising the importance of robust field-level implementation, the meeting approved expeditious hiring of manpower for census 2027 at the UT, district and charge levels, officials said.

Deputy commissioners were directed to constitute District Level Census Cells and nominate officers for coordination, training and supervision, while instructions were issued for the timely identification of master trainers, supervisors and enumerators, they added.

Addressing the meeting, the chief secretary underscored the need for close coordination between the administration and the census directorate and directed all deputy commissioners to extend full support to ensure smooth, accurate and timely conduct of the census.

He assured the government’s full cooperation for the successful completion of the exercise.