LG briefs Rajnath on ceasefire violations
DM to visit Ladakh tomorrow
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, July 1: Lieutenant Governor Girish Chandra Murmu today briefed Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and top brass of Union Ministry of Home Affairs in New Delhi about situation prevailing in Jammu and Kashmir including the frontiers with Pakistan while Rajnath accompanied by Army chief Gen Manoj Mukund Naravane is scheduled to visit Ladakh, where India is involved in standoff with China for past more than one and half months, on Friday.
Official sources told the Excelsior that Murmu, Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla and Chief Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam had detailed review of security situation, development works, COVID management and curtailed pilgrimage to holy cave shrine of Shri Amarnath Ji in J&K this evening, at the MHA.
However, there was no official word on the meeting but, according to sources, all major aspects of the situation came up for discussion in over an hour long meeting especially the process to resume development works which had been stalled to some extent due to Coronavirus pandemic.
Jammu and Kashmir is scheduled to issue new guidelines under `Unlock 2′ on July 3.
The Union Home Ministry had issued `Unlock 2′ guidelines on June 29 but the J&K administration had extended existing restrictions till July 3.
“Anti-militancy operations, Centrally Sponsored Schemes and resumption of development works despite COVID-19 in Jammu and Kashmir are high on agenda of the Central Government,” sources pointed out.
Annual pilgrimage of Shri Amarnath Ji has been curtailed in view of the pandemic but still it could be held for about 15 days from July 21 to August 3 but detailed guidelines for the yatra are yet to be issued by Shri Amarnath Ji Shrine Board (SASB).
Only few days back, the Lieutenant Governor had chaired the Unified Headquarters meeting to review all aspects of security situation in Jammu and Kashmir.
Prior to the meeting at the MHA, Murmu had one-to-one meeting with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and is understood to have briefed him on the situation prevailing on LoC with Pakistan in Rajouri, Poonch, Baramulla and other areas of J&K.
Situation has been quite grim on the LoC with Pakistan regularly indulging in ceasefire violations targeting civilian areas in Rajouri and Poonch districts and abetting infiltration attempts by the militants.
Rajnath is scheduled to visit Ladakh on Friday to take stock of India’s military preparedness in the wake of a bitter border standoff with the Chinese troops.
He will be accompanied by Chief of Army Staff Gen Manoj Mukund Naravane.
It will be the Defence Minister’s first visit to Ladakh after the standoff between the two armies began on May 5.
During his visit, Singh will carry out a comprehensive review of the security situation in the region with Gen Naravane, Northern Army Commander Lt Gen Yogesh Kumar Joshi, Commander of the 14 Corps Lt Gen Harinder Singh and other senior Army officials, sources said.
The visit is also aimed at boosting morale of the Army personnel engaged in the seven-week bitter border faceoff with the Chinese troops in the region, sources added.
The Army Chief visited Ladakh on June 23 and 24 during which he held a series of meetings with senior Army officials and toured various forward areas in Eastern Ladakh.
The Defence Minister’s visit to the region comes in the midst of India significantly ramping up the number of troops and weaponry along the Line of Actual Control(LAC) in the Eastern Ladakh region.
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