Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, May 26: The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has agreed to provide additional Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) to Jammu and Kashmir for making elaborate security arrangements for annual Amarnath ji pilgrimage starting on July 2 for 59 days in South Kashmir Himalayas.
The assurance from the MHA came even as Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is visiting on one day’s brief visit to Jammu tomorrow during which no formal security review of the yatra arrangements or other issues is scheduled, official sources told the Excelsior.
Vinod Kumar Singh, Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) will accompany Rajnath Singh during the visit.
However, Home Secretary RK Goyal, Director General of Police (DGP) K Rajendra Kumar, Additional DG Security VK Singh and IGP CID AG Mir reached here this afternoon from Srinagar, the summer capital of the State, in anticipation of any informal briefing required by the Home Minister on security related issues in Jammu and Kashmir and oversee security arrangements for the visit of the Union Home Minister.
Official sources told the Excelsior that top civil and police officials met this evening to review security arrangements for the visit of the Union Home Minister, who will address party leaders and workers as part of ‘Jan Kalyan Parv’ at KK Resorts near Talab Tillo Bohri at 11.30 am tomorrow after his arrival from New Delhi. On return, he will visit house of a party worker to check membership drive. He would have brief stay at the Guest House for lunch and address media before returning to New Delhi in the afternoon.
Rajnath Singh was earlier scheduled to visit Jammu for inauguration of Radio Kashmir Jammu’s newly installed transmission along with Minister of State in Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Dr Jitendra Singh and security review in Jammu and Kashmir especially Amarnath yatra arrangements but had to cancel the visit due to some preoccupation in New Delhi.
Sources said the MHA has agreed to provide additional CAPFs sought by Jammu and Kashmir for making security arrangements for 59-days long Amarnath yatra.
“The MHA has assured us that the State will get number of the CAPF companies it has asked for. The companies will start reaching here soon and the deployment (of the companies) will start from June 15. Entire security arrangements will be in place well before July 2 when the yatra will start,’’ sources said, adding the security would remain in place till last day of the pilgrimage i.e. August 29.
Worthwhile to mention here that Amarnath yatra security is high on agenda of the Central Government. The MHA has already assured the State Government that it would provide all possible help to the J&K Government for safety and security of Amarnath yatris.
UNI adds from Kolkata: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh today said the Bharatiya Janata Party still stood by its agenda of abrogating Article 370 of the Constitution, while asserting that the Government would not tolerate anyone raising pro-Pakistan slogans.
“There are no two ways about our stand on Article 370,” he said.
“But a new Government has come to power in Jammu and Kashmir and the BJP, for the first time, has got the opportunity to be part of the State Government. So let development take place first,” he told a press conference in Kolkata.
His statement came in reply to a question on the BJP’s longstanding demand for abrogation of Article 370 which gives special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
“Whatever we want to do we will do it taking in confidence the common masses,” he said.
Replying to a query on the recent incidents of Pakistan flags being hoisted in Kashmir by separatists, Singh said: “we cannot allow anybody to give a slogan of ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ on the Indian soil. BJP believes that all Indians, be it Hindus, Muslim or Christians, are nationalists.
“But if anyone standing on Indian soil shouts Pakistan Zindabad, then no matter from which religion he belongs, the Government will not accept that,” he said.
“We all know why Masrat Alam was arrested,” the Home Minister said, referring to the separatist leader who waved Pakistan flag and chanted pro-Pakistan slogans in a rally near Srinagar last month to welcome hardliner Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani.
The Home Minister said both the Centre and the Mufti Mohammad Sayeed-led Jammu and Kashmir Government were committed towards the rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits.
“As regards the rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits, we have created a fund. We have been talking to J&K Chief Minister and he has assured that he will provide land to the Kashmiri Pandits for their rehabilitation,” he added.
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