Union home minister Amit Shah on Thursday directed security agencies to “continue working in a coordinated manner to eliminate terrorism in Jammu & Kashmir” as he reviewed the security situation in the Union Territory during a high-level meeting.
The meeting, which took place hours after security forces gunned down five Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists in Kulgam district of J&K, was held in the Capital and was attended by top officials including army chief General Upendra Dwivedi, Border Security Force (BSF) chief Daljit Singh Chawdhary, Union home secretary Govind Mohan and J&K lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha.
“The home minister directed all security agencies to continue working in a coordinated manner to eliminate terrorism in Jammu & Kashmir. He emphasised on the implementation of Area Domination Plan and Zero Terror Plan in mission mode,” a government spokesperson said, referring to minutes of the meeting.
He added that the Union minister has reiterated that all resources would be available at the earliest for security agencies in J&K to achieve the goal of a terror-free Jammu and Kashmir. “The HM said that the unprecedented participation of the people of Jammu & Kashmir in the Assembly elections and Lok Sabha elections shows that they have full faith in the democracy of the country,” he said.
The meeting came months after assembly elections were held in the Union territory that brought to power the National Conference government headed by chief minister Omar Abdullah.
{{/usCountry}}The meeting came months after assembly elections were held in the Union territory that brought to power the National Conference government headed by chief minister Omar Abdullah.
{{/usCountry}}After the abrogation of Article 370 and the bifurcation of the erstwhile state into two Union territories in 2019, law and order in Jammu & Kashmir comes under the central government.
Ahead of this security review meeting, Shah met Abdullah.
Talking to reporters in the Capital, Abdullah said he discussed the restoration of J&K’s statehood with Shah. “The elected government has been in power for the last 2-3 months. We spoke about the work there. The talks were held in a cordial atmosphere,” Abdullah said.
Responding to queries on his talks related to the counterterror operations in J&K, Abdullah said, “The law and order in J&K is currently with the lieutenant governor... To fight terror, people of J&K have to be taken into confidence and have a role in this fight. For this, elected representatives of the people, must also be part of the team in this fight.”