NEW DELHI: In his maiden visit to Kashmir valley, defence minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday reviewed security situation in the Valley in the backdrop of continuing unrest in Kashmir valley and attacks on security forces.
Army Chief General Bipin Rawat also arrived in Srinagar later in the day to take stock of the measures taken by the Army to sustain the tempo of anti-terrorist operations. With expected spike in number of infiltration bids from across the Line of Control (LOC) in the coming weeks, he was also briefed about the deployment pattern of troops in the counter-infiltration grid.
Defence sources said that Jaitley was given a detailed analysis by the local commanders on the prevailing security situation at the places bordering Pakistan and parts of Kashmir valley.
According to one additional battalion (1,000 soldiers) was recently deployed in the Shamshabari mountain range to prevent infiltration into North Kashmir and if need be more troops will be pressed into service to man the LOC. Jaitley and Rawat were apprised of the deployment pattern and preparedness, officials said here. Rawat will return to New Delhi on Thursday while Jaitley will be back on Friday after taking part in Goods and Services Tax (GST) deliberations with the state government as Finance Minister.
The defence minister and the Army chief’s visits to the state comes at a time when protests and stone pelting remain unabated and security forces admit the situation in not conducive. Moreover, Pakistan Army was regularly violating ceasefire and firing on Indian army posts forcing evacuation of civilian population from Rajouri and Poonch regions.
The Army along with para-military forces and the local police were also gearing up for providing security cover to the forthcoming Amarnath Yatra commencing June 29 and ending August 7. Jaitley and Rawat were apprised about the plans to ensure an incident free pilgrimage where lakhs of people from all over the country were expected to participate.