Srinagar, Oct 30: On his arrival in Kashmir from Kargil on Sunday, Home Minister P Chidambaram is scheduled to chair a high level meeting of police and district administration at Baramulla to review the security situation in north Kashmir.
The Home minister who is on 2-day visit to the Valley is scheduled to interact with public at Dak Bunglow Baramulla before flying to Srinagar to take stock of the security scenario in the entire Valley.
Sources told Greater Kashmir that Chidambaram is scheduled to directly fly from Ladakh to Baramulla in the afternoon. “His chopper will land at the BSF headquarter at Kalampora wherefrom, amid tight security, the Home Minister’s cavalcade will straightway drive to Baramulla Dak Bunglow,” sources said.
“He (Chidambaram) will interact with more over 200 people of civil society from various areas of the north Kashmir,” sources said. “No local politician has been invited for the meeting.” The exercise would be followed by a high-level meeting with top officials from police from entire region of north Kashmir and district administration of the twin border districts.
The Home Minister, sources said was expected to review the law and order situation in the area. “Though nothing was officially known about purpose of the meeting, most parts of north Kashmir including, Uri, Kupwara, Handwara are sensitive given their proximity to the Line of Control, and the Home Minister might seek inputs in this regard. Besides, Baramulla had also grown as one of the tough areas for the police to handle during the recent unrest,” sources said.
Sources here said Chidambaram will attend a meeting of the unified headquarters in the summer capital Sunday to review the security situation in the state.
“He is also likely to make some announcements which will help defuse the present volatile situation in the Kashmir Valley,” the source said.
The home minister’s visit to the state assumes significance as it comes in the wake of the visit of three interlocutors nominated to address the political problem in Jammu and Kashmir.
During past four months of unrest in Kashmir, Baramulla district had witnessed at least 39 killings including those of teenagers. During the period the Baramulla town witnessed frequent protests and emerged as a major “resistance hub” in the Valley after Maisuma and Nowhatta here.
However, the level of protests has gone down for past some time now.
This would be the second visit of Chidambaram to the North Kashmir in past three months. As part of All Party Delegation to the Kashmir in August last the Home Minister along with some parliamentarians had visited Tangmarg area wherein the delegation had to face some tough questions regarding killing of people in police and CRPF action.
After the meetings, Home Minister would fly to Srinagar where he would review the overall law and order situation in a meeting with the Chief Minister and top officials of security agencies. The meeting is scheduled to take place at Nehru Guest House here.
“He will interact with senior functionaries of the state and police administration to assess the ground situation which had remained volatile for the past four months,” sources said. The HM will fly back to New Delhi in the evening.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 30 Oct 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 30 Oct 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 31 Oct 2010 00:00:00 IST