Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Aug 5: The Central Government today twice held high level review of security situation and Prime Minister’s Development Plan (PMDP) in Jammu and Kashmir and decided to rush additional para-military forces to parts of Jammu region especially erstwhile Doda district, where protests have been witnessed during the past two days in support of Kashmir agitation.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar joined by National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval, Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, Intelligence Bureau (IB) chief Dineshwar Sharma and RAW chief held comprehensive review of developing situation in entire Jammu and Kashmir and called for zero infiltration along borders, keeping the protests under control as far as possible and preventing flare up of violence to peaceful areas.
Sources told the Excelsior that first review meeting on Jammu and Kashmir situation was held in the morning, which was followed by another meeting in the evening. In the first meeting, Kokrajhar terror attack in Assam also came up for discussion along with Jammu and Kashmir while the second meeting in the evening, which took place after Rajnath Singh’s return from Kokrajhar to New Delhi, was exclusively confined to J&K as reports poured in with the Home Ministry that trouble was spreading in the newer areas.
The top Central Ministers decided to dispatch more Central forces to erstwhile Doda district including Kishtwar, Doda and Ramban and twin border districts of Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu region to keep law and order situation under control and maintain peace.
“The additional Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) would be dispatched from New Delhi for these areas to prevent any flare up in the violence,” sources said but added that situation in these areas was well under control with no major violent incident reported so far.
Union Minister of State in Prime Minister’s Office, Dr Jitendra Singh also met Rajnath Singh and apprised him of the situation developing in Kishtwar and spill over of the protests from Valley to other parts including Kishtwar. He called for maintaining peace in the entire State.
Rajnath assured Dr Jiten-dra Singh, who represents Udhampur-Doda Lok Sabha seat, that all possible steps were being taken to maintain peace in Jammu and Kashmir.
Sources said the Home Minister, the Finance Minister and the Defence Minister unanimously took some decisions to control the present unrest in the Valley to restore peace but, at the same time, ensure that para-military forces exercised maximum restraint and civilians were not harassed.
“The option of resorting to tough measures was kept as the last resort,” they added.
During the high-level meeting held in the morning, stock of the situation in the Kashmir Valley was taken and it was decided that the troops along the Line of Control and International Border would be asked to ensure zero infiltration, they said.
The Home and Defence Ministries have reports that the militants have gathered across LoC to infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir taking advantage of unrest in the Kashmir valley as security personnel were engaged in tackling the protests.
However, sources said, the Defence Minister and the Home Minister were reported to have directed that there should be no lowering of the guard on the borders despite unrest and troops deployed (on the borders) wouldn’t be withdrawn under any circumstances for the unrest.
“It was decided in today’s meeting that additional para-military personnel and troops would be sent to vulnerable areas either from New Delhi or from their Headquarters in Jammu and Kashmir and there would be no withdrawal from the borders. Instead, the meeting directed that Security Grid should be strengthened on the borders to thwart infiltration attempts,” sources said.
Today’s meeting was a also follow up of steps taken to restore normalcy in the State after Singh’s two-day visit to Kashmir a fortnight ago.
According to sources, the meeting also reviewed implementation of Prime Minister’s Development Plan (PMDP), which had been sanctioned last year on November 7 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the tune of Rs 80,000 crores.
The meeting decided to expedite release of funds under the PMDP to the State Government for accelerating developmental works.
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