LG, top brass of civil, police Admn to attend
*Execution of PMDP, CSSs may also figure
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Aug 24: Union Home Minister Amit Shah has called a high-level meeting for review of Jammu and Kashmir security situation in New Delhi tomorrow which will be attended by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and top civil and police officers of the Union Territory.
While security scenario in the hinterland as well as the borders, tackling remaining militancy and review of development works in Jammu and Kashmir is mainly on the agenda, sources don’t rule out the possibility of row generated over outside voters’ inclusion also figuring in the meet though this issue has by and large been settled with Government clarification.
Official sources told the Excelsior that Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, Chief Secretary Arun Kumar Mehta, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) RK Goyal, Director General of Police (DGP) Dilbag Singh and DG CID Rashmi Ranjan Swain are likely to attend the meeting among others.
Besides top officials of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs including Home Secretary AK Bhalla will also join the meeting.
This will be first high-level meeting on Jammu and Kashmir situation to be chaired by Amit Shah post successful completion of Shri Amarnath Ji pilgrimage which saw massive turnout with 3.65 lakh pilgrims performing darshan of naturally formed Ice Lingam of Lord Shiva in South Kashmir Himalayas.
Prior to start of the yatra, Shah held two meetings on May 17 and June 3 for review of security arrangements for the pilgrimage, development works and few targeted killings by the militants, which have now been controlled to quite an extent.
“Security scenario in Jammu and Kashmir has improved a lot with killing of top militants including their commanders in the Valley though the militants after gap of some days manage to strike here and there to cause killings. Five Army soldiers were martyred in a fidayeen attack at village Parghal in Rajouri district on August 11 while the two fidayeen were eliminated,” sources said.
They added that security situation in Jammu and Kashmir, complete protection of minorities, finishing the militancy, issues of Kashmiri Pandit and other non-local employees, security scenario in the border areas including drone activities and development works especially those being executed under Prime Minister’s Development Package (PMPD) and Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSSs) will be reviewed in the meeting.
However, the issue of inclusion of non-locals as voters in Jammu and Kashmir on which an All Party Meeting (APM) was chaired by National Conference president Dr Farooq Abdullah in Srinagar yesterday, might also figure in the meeting though the Government has already issued enough clarifications in this regard and the UT unit of BJP has also mounted offensive against NC, PDP and other such parties for “misleading people over non-issue”.
As far as Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir are concerned, sources said such a possibility for this year has already been ruled out now as final Electoral Rolls will be published by the Election Commission on November 25 after which harsh winters will set-in.
Only possibility to hold the Assembly elections now is April-May 2023 depending on security situation in the Union Territory especially the Valley. However, a final call on conduct of Assembly elections has to be taken by the Election Commission of India.
The Central as well as Jammu and Kashmir Governments have taken initiatives to finish the militancy in the Kashmir valley. However, the concerns remained over hybrid militants, sources pointed out.
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