Ravi Dhaliwal,Tribune News Service,Gurdaspur, January 7

Those living in the city and its suburbs remain in the grip of fear even as a joint operation by nearly 1,000 Army men, Punjab Police personnel and the BSF is under way near Pandher village where terrorists were spotted yesterday.Hundred floodlights have been installed in the vicinity of a 15-acre sugarcane field where heavily armed militants are said to be hiding. The operation is being conducted barely 2 km from the outer wall of the Tibri Cantonment.This morning, Brig VK Tripathi, a hurriedly drawn up map in hand, asked Satnam Singh, who claims to have sighted two terrorists in long coats, dark glasses and boots, at 2.30 pm yesterday, to wear a bullet-proof jacket. Later, the Brigadier and 12 Army personnel took him to a point from where the terrorists are believed to have sneaked in.   The Military Intelligence (MI) confirmed that “some people were in the sugarcane field.” However, officers refused to elaborate. Brig Tripathi reportedly noticed footprints near the point identified by Satnam. “The depth of the footprints indicates the men are carrying a heavy load,” said an Army officer.A dog squad was rushed to the site. Minutes later, a senior police officer announced that he was sure somebody was hiding in the area.  The Air Force drone camera has spotted some movement too. But no official was willing to confirm this. A military helicopter kept hovering over the area as the Army, police and BSF officers met on the Gurdaspur-Mukerian road for confabulations.At one point of time, both the SWAT teams, which arrived here yesterday, were put in a state of preparedness. Thrice the SWAT and Army teams geared up to comb the sugarcane fields but on all these occasions the plan was put on hold either due to ‘technical reasons’ or ‘logistical glitches.’ As night descended, at least 100 floodlights were installed at various points. Later in the evening, two Armoured Personnel Carriers were brought in by the Army. Institutes in the city were shut and the Tibri road leading to the Civil Hospital from Pandher village was cleared of traffic. The hospital was asked to be ready for any eventuality.