First meet in 5½ months discusses summer roadmap
Anti-militancy ops, infiltration, internal security debated
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Jan 21: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha today chaired his first meeting of the Unified Headquarters comprising top brass of security, Intelligence and civil administration and reviewed entire gamut of security situation in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir besides the Line of Control (LoC) and International Border with Pakistan.
This was first meeting of the Unified Headquarters during last five and half months since Sinha took over as the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir.
All senior Army Commanders including Northern Command chief Lt Gen YK Joshi, GOCs of Yol Cantonment, Nagrota and Srinagar Corps, top officers of BSF, CRPF, JKP, Security, CID and Central Intelligence agencies attended meeting of the Unified Headquarters. Chief Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam and Home Secretary Shaleen Kabra were present from the civil administration among others.
The meeting lasted four hours from 11.30 am onwards at Jammu Convention Centre.
“Top officers of Army, police and other security and Intelligence agencies briefed the Lieutenant Governor about security situation in Jammu and Kashmir which, they said, is fully under control with no major terror-related incident, law & order problem or stoning reported from any part of Kashmir,” reliable sources told the Excelsior.
They said the Government wants security agencies to be prepared in advance to ensure peaceful summer in the Valley so that flow of tourists increase as COVID pandemic will also decline to quite an extent by then.
The Government, according to sources, is of the view that militancy has been contained to a reasonable extent in the Valley, barring few pockets, and it will further decline due to very less fresh recruitment and almost zero infiltration attempts from Pakistan on the Line of Control (LoC).
The Unified Headquarters reportedly dwelt on anti-militancy operations across the Valley to keep the momentum as last year nearly 225 militants were killed despite COVID pandemic when large number of security personnel had also been affected by the virus.
The meeting reportedly observed that sustained pressure on militants was required to be maintained especially in South Kashmir but, at the same time, it has to be ensured that maximum efforts are made to get local militants surrendered as has been the case in past many encounters when security forces asked local ultras to come out and lay down the arms.
In some of the cases, the local militants came out during encounters and surrendered. The gesture of Army, para-military forces and police to accept surrender of the local militants instead of eliminating them in the encounters has been widely appreciated.
“The Army and BSF officers reportedly briefed Manoj Sinha on situation prevailing along the Line of Control and International Border in Jammu and Kashmir with Pakistan where ceasefire violations and, sometimes, infiltration attempts by the militants under the cover of shelling and firing are taking place,” sources said, adding that security officers told the Lieutenant Governor that majority of intrusion bids have been thwarted.
However, they said, there has been no let up in ceasefire violations by the Pakistan army on the LoC especially in the twin border districts of Poonch and Rajouri where shelling and firing from across have become regular feature. But, they added, the ceasefire violations have been effectively replied by the Indian Army and BSF inflicting heavy damages and casualties on Pakistan.
As far as law and order situation is concerned, police and para-military officials are reported to have briefed the Lieutenant Governor that it is completely under control with no major protests being reported from anywhere in the Kashmir valley.
Sources said the Unified Headquarters expressed confidence that normalcy will continue to prevail in the Kashmir valley paving way for revival of tourist season in the summer. Last year, there were few tourists in the Kashmir valley, like other parts of the country, because of Coronavirus pandemic. With pandemic easing and vaccine drive picking up, the Government is confident of good tourist season this year if situation remains normal.
“The Lieutenant Governor is reported to have made detailed statement at the Unified Headquarters meeting and issued certain directions to the security agencies,” sources said.
However, there was no official word on the meeting of the Unified Headquarters as the Government didn’t issue any statement.
Sources said security agencies were also reported to have raised the issues pertaining to them before the Lieutenant Governor.
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