Days after a terror group in Jammu and Kashmir released a hit list of 56 employees belonging to the Kashmiri Pandit community, Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla chaired a review meeting to discuss the security situation and preparedness of security forces in the Union Territory, people familiar with the development said.
The meeting was attended by officials of the home ministry, central paramilitary forces, J&K police and central intelligence agencies.
A blog linked to The Resistance Front (TRF), an offshoot of the Lashkar-e-Taiba terror outfit, on Sunday published the list of 56 Pandits working under the Prime Minister’s Rehabilitation Package (PMRP) and warned of attacking them.
As many as 118 civilians, including five Kashmiri Pandits and 16 other Hindus and Sikhs, were killed in Jammu and Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019 till July 2022, according to the official data.
In the aftermath of targeted killings by terrorists, several Kashmiri Pandits employed in the valley under the PMRP have shifted to Jammu and are on a protest for over 200 days, demanding relocation of the rest. There have been sporadic incidents of violence in Jammu and Kashmir in recent months that include attacks on innocent civilians, and security personnel, and infiltration bids from across the border, officials said.
The home ministry informed Parliament in July that no Kashmiri pandit had left the valley since August 2019, when Article 370, which provided a gave special status to the erstwhile state, was repealed.
{{/usCountry}}The home ministry informed Parliament in July that no Kashmiri pandit had left the valley since August 2019, when Article 370, which provided a gave special status to the erstwhile state, was repealed.
{{/usCountry}}“There has been substantial decline in terrorist attacks from 417 in 2018 to 229 in 2021,” junior home minister Nityanand Rai said in Parliament in July. “The government has taken various measures to normalise the situation in the Kashmir Valley. These include a robust security and intelligence grid, proactive operations against terrorists, intensified night patrolling and checking at nakas (check posts), security arrangements through appropriate deployment and high level of alertness maintained by the security forces.”