SRINAGAR: Home Minister Amit Shah will arrive on a three-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir on April 6 to review the security situation in the Union Territory. The visit is following the recent encounter in the forest area of Kathua district where four policemen and two militants were killed and ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops.
J&K BJP General Secretary (Org) Ashok Koul told TNIE that the Home Minister will arrive in Jammu on April 6 evening. The Home Minister, during his three-day visit to J&K would review the security scenario and progress of work on developmental projects, he said.
Shah would be chairing separate security review meetings in Jammu and Srinagar with a thrust on strengthening the border grid to prevent the infiltration of militants from across the border and Line of Control (LoC).
Sources said the Home Minister will take an overall brief about the prevailing security scenario in J&K, especially the recent encounter in the forest area of Kathua in which four policemen and two militants were killed.
“The infiltration of militants from across the border in Jammu region and the surge in militant attacks and encounters in Jammu region will figure prominently during the security review meeting,” they said.
Sources said the Home Minister may also visit some forward areas close to the LoC and International Border in Jammu and take feedback from security officials
The HM may direct security forces to identify and fill the security loopholes both at the LoC and IB and within the hinterland to prevent infiltration of militants and militant attacks.
With officials expecting a record number of tourist footfalls in Kashmir this year with the start of train service from Katra to Srinagar, the HM may direct security officials to take more stringent security measures to prevent attempts to revive militancy in Kashmir by Pakistan.
“The HM may give clear message to security officials to ensure that peaceful atmosphere in Valley is not disturbed and go after the Over Ground Workers (OGWs) and militant sympathisers in Kashmir,” sources said.
They further added that the meetings may focus on counterterrorism strategies and all out operations against the remaining militants and their sympathisers with full force.
The central government recently banned two Kashmir-based political organisations --- Awami Action Committee (AAC) of Hurriyat leader and cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and J&K Ittehadul Muslimeen of influential Shia leader Masroor Abbas Ansari – for five years under UAPA.
Sources said it is very likely that J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah may be invited for security review meetings to be chaired by HM in Srinagar and Jammu respectively. So far Omar has not been invited in any security review meetings, whether chaired by Lt Governor Manoj Sinha or Home Minister Amit Shah, after his government came into power in October last year. The HM is also expected to chair a meeting with senior J&K BJP leaders and legislators during his three-day stay in the UT.
It would also be Amit Shah's first visit to J&K after Omar Abdullah government took power after NC's win in the maiden Assembly polls in J&K UT last year.