Home Minister to review J&K situation at high-level meet in New Delhi this week

FILE PHOTO

Top brass from UT, MHA officials, Intl agencies to attend

Taliban impact, development, security situation to figure

Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Sept 5: Union Home Minister Amit Shah will be holding high-level review of security situation in Jammu and Kashmir especially in the wake of Afghanistan’s takeover by Taliban and its likely impact on the borders, development works and various other aspects of the situation in New Delhi this week.
Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, Chief Secretary Dr Arun Kumar Mehta, Home Secretary Shaleen Kabra, Director General of Police (DGP) Dilbag Singh and Intelligence chief Rashmi Ranjan Swain are likely to attend the meeting from Jammu and Kashmir.
Top officials of various Central Security and Intelligence agencies and senior officers of the Union Home Ministry including Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla are expected to attend the meeting.
Official sources told the Excelsior that though security agencies are well placed along the borders to tackle any kind of threat emerging from the rise of Taliban in Afghanistan and full back of Pakistan to them, the Central Government doesn’t want to take any chances and will be holding high-level review of situation in the Union Territory with specific context of Afghanistan apart from other issues of the UT.
Top officials of various security agencies including the Central as well as that of Jammu and Kashmir have already stated that situation is well under control and they are fully prepared to meet with any kind of security challenges arising out of Afghanistan-Pakistan nexus which is quite visible especially after the visit of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Gen Faiz Hameed to Kabul yesterday.
“The Union Home Minister will review the situation and steps required to tackle any kind of threat originating from Afghanistan in Jammu and Kashmir,” sources pointed out.
Various other issues pertaining to Jammu and Kashmir including infrastructural development and execution of works under the Prime Minister’s Development Project (PMDP) will also come up under review during the meeting, they said.
“Situation on anti-militancy front and law and order is also expected to figure in the meeting,” they added and said the situation has been fully under control with no incident taking place after the death of Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani in the Kashmir valley.
Along the Line of Control (LoC) and International Border (IB), the February 25, 2021 ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan has been holding despite infiltration attempts by the militants in the twin border districts of Rajouri and Poonch.
“There has been no ceasefire violation by the Pakistan army and Rangers on LoC and IB respectively though the militants have made series of attempts to infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir from Sunderbani, Nowshera, Salhutri and other places in Rajouri and Poonch districts,” sources said, adding that majority of intrusion bids have been successfully thwarted by the troops.
Few days back, Amit Shah had launched web portal for Central Sector Schemes of Jammu and Kashmir under new Industrial Policy.
The web portal will provide all kind of information to the investors in Jammu and Kashmir and they won’t have to travel to the Union Territory. While the Government had anticipated Rs 28,400 crore worth investments and generation of 4-5 lakh jobs from the new Industrial Policy initially, now the Government is targeting Rs 50,000 crore worth investments and around 10 lakh jobs.
It may be mentioned here that the Central Government’s Public Outreach-II by around 70 Ministers is starting from September 9 during which the Union Ministers will tour various parts of Jammu and Kashmir.