Srinagar: Two days ahead of commencement of Amarnath Yatra, final high level security review meeting was held at Anantnag district of South Kashmir on Monday.
During the review meeting, chaired by the Inspector General of Police Kashmir Zone, Vijay Kumar, threats and counter-measures were discussed threadbare.
The 43-day-long pilgrimage, being held after a gap of two years, is scheduled to commence on June 30 and will conclude by August 11 on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan.
Pertinently, the number of security personnel deployed for pilgrimage this year is four times more than the previous years as there is increased threat perception to Yatra starting from the next week.
The meeting was attended by General Officer Commanding Victor Force Major General S N Srivastava, IG (Ops), CRPF Kashmir, M S Bhatia, Deputy Inspector General of Police, South Kashmir Range, Abdul Jabbar, DIG BSF, ITBP, and CRPF, besides SSPs of all districts of South Kashmir.
During the meeting the officers briefed Vijay Kumar about the final security arrangements for pilgrimage, scheduled to start from Thursday morning. He was also appraised about real threats and counter measures taken to avert any eventuality.
IGP Kashmir was told that all security forces agencies were maintaining close synergy and round the clock monitoring of Yatra routes had already been started. He was briefed that all the peaks enroute to Yatra had been sanitised and covered.
During the meeting the officers said that a lot of preparations had been put into place. “The security forces personnel have been deployed and areas have been distributed in Sectors,” IGP was told by the officers adding that their endeavour was to ensure a safe and secure Yatra.
IGP Kashmir highlighted the imminent threat from terrorists and stressed for strengthening of the intelligence grid so as to neutralise them. He also discussed other threat perceptions for Yatra as well as tourists and emphasized for establishment of a proper security grid.
While taking district-wise security review and stock of arrangements put in place for SANJY-2022, he also elaborated the role and responsibility of all the four districts of South Kashmir which were represented by the concerned district SsPs.
On the occasion, the senior officers of army and security forces also presented a detailed presentation and shared their valuable inputs or suggestions for strengthening the overall security grid and providing fool proof security cover to the Yatris during their forward and return journey.
Special attention was laid on regular briefing and de-briefing, cut-off timings, elimination of threat of sticky bombs, IEDs, grenade lobbing and drone attacks, security of parking areas, traffic management, ROP, implementation of SOPs etc.
IGP Kashmir emphasized that multiple checking points must be established for restricting un-registered Yatris to reach the base camp to avoid chaotic situations. He also directed that all stakeholders be taken into confidence by creating synergy and cordial relations with them so as to achieve the objective of conducting a successful Yatra.
He also emphasized on the role of supervisory officers for ensuring briefing and debriefing, strengthening of the intelligence grid on ground, alertness of deployed nafri, intensified legal action on OGWs and following all the SOPs in letter and spirit.
IGP Kashmir also stressed on better coordination, cooperation and cohesive efforts among all the different agencies on ground including army, CRPF, BSF, ITBP, civil administration and police for safe, secure and smooth Shri Amarnath Yatra Year-2022 (SANJY-2022).