Top officials join high-level meet
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, June 6: National Security Advisor Ajit Doval today chaired a high-level meeting to discuss issues concerning Kashmir, including the forthcoming Amarnath Yatra and pending Assembly election with top officials of security agencies and Jammu and Kashmir.
The high-level meeting chalked out strategy to ensure peaceful pilgrimage to holy cave shrine of Shri Amarnath Ji, beginning July 1 on the occasion of Masik Shivratri and concluding on August 15 coinciding with Raksha Bandhan and Shravan Purnima.
The meeting was attended by Vijay Kumar, Advisor to the Governor, Incharge Home Department, Chief Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam, Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat, Director General of CRPF R R Bhatnagar and Director General of Police Dilbag Singh.
This is the first meeting of Doval on Kashmir after assuming the charge of National Security Advisor for a second term on June 2 during which he has been given Cabinet status.
During the meeting, the prevailing security situation in Kashmir was reviewed, especially in view of the annual Amarnath Yatra which this year will last 46 days and for which the Central Government has assured deployment of maximum possible para-military forces in the State.
The meeting comes days after the Election Commission made an announcement that polls to the State Assembly will be held after the Amarnath Yatra.
In a statement, the poll panel had said it unanimously decided that “holding of Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir shall be considered later in this year”.
Rejecting the concerns of security expressed by State officials, the Election Commission was of the view that if the Lok Sabha polls could be held, there should be no issue in holding the elections to the State Assembly.
Jammu and Kashmir does not have an elected dispensation since the PDP-BJP coalition Government fell in June 2018.
The State is under the President’s rule which will expire on June 19 after which the Centre is likely to extend it by another six months.
While no dates of elections have been announced, officials privy to the development feel that the elections are likely to take place sometime in November this year.
Sources said apart from security arrangements for Shri Amarnath Ji yatra, security situation in Jammu and Kashmir especially the Kashmir valley also came up for high-level review during the meeting that lasted more than an hour.
This year, security forces have killed 101 militants so far despite general elections and the Central Government was hopeful that search operations would be intensified during the summer.
Situation on the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir also figured during the meeting and steps to ensure that the militants from Pakistan don’t manage to infiltrate into the State were discussed.
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