Stating that situation in Kashmir was improving by the day, a joint key security meeting chaired by general officer commanding-in-chief of northern command, lieutenant general Ranbir Singh Tuesday discussed threadbare the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Amarnath yatra and anti-militancy operations among other issues.
The meeting was held at army headquarters here and wasattended by senior officers of security agencies, including GoC 15 corps Lt GenKJS Dhillion, J&K police chief Dilbag Singh, ADGP CID B Srinivas, ADGPsecurity, and law and order Muneer Ahmad Khan, ADGP armed Javid Gillani, IGP KashmirSP Pani, IGP CRPF, GOCs of Kilo, Victor, 28 and 20 Infantry Divisions andsenior officers of paramilitary forces.
A senior officer who was part of the meeting told GreaterKashmir that it was noted that the situation in the Valley is improving, andarmy, police and paramilitary forces are making synergised efforts to normalisethe situation further.
About the Lok Sabha elections starting from April 11, hesaid the meeting was informed that pre-poll deployment of forces has been donealready and all preparations have been made. He said the army is carrying outarea domination exercises in their respective areas so that “inimical elements”will be kept at bay.
“For incident-free polling in the Valley, army, police andparamilitary forces have great synergy. The meeting was also informed howtrouble makers are being handled and how the campaigning for the first phase isunderway smoothly. Secure environment has been carved out by security forcesfor candidates and voters,” he said.
Anti-militancy operations were also discussed during themeeting. The officers informed the meeting that operations are being carriedout only if there are specific inputs.
“They also informed that every effort is being made avoidcollateral damage during the operations. Further, the meeting was informed thatpeople outreach programmes are being carried out by all security agencies underoperation Sadbhavna and other civic action plans,” he said.
During the meeting, challenges the forces face in summermonths were also discussed. A strategy was chalked out and it was decidednobody will be allowed to disrupt peace during the summer.
He said that during the deliberations on the overallsecurity situation, the plans to ensure a robust counter infiltration gridalong the Line of Control and counter militancy grid in the hinterland werediscussed.
“GOC-in-chief lauded the coordination amongst differentsecurity agencies and emphasized on maintaining a high level of preparedness todeal with any arising situation,” the officer said.
The senior officer said that in the meeting it was said thatsecurity agencies will follow “zero error” policy and step upsecurity for the 2019 annual Amarnath yatra, which will commence from July 1.
A top security official, requesting anonymity, said themeeting decided to adopt a multi-pronged strategy to face the challenges thatare “multiple in nature”.
“While ensuring the smooth conduct of polls we will haveensure that all attempts to be made by the militants to disrupt the pollprocess are foiled and that is not an easy job. It was therefore decided toforge a multi-pronged and well-coordinated mechanism to deal with the challengeon militancy front,” he said.
Not ruling out the possibility of militant strikes on theeve of upcoming elections, the official said that since Lethpora suicide attackon CRPF convoy, forces are “walking an extra mile” to prevent repeat of suchattacks.
“Though we have managed to wipe out most of the leadership of Jaish, the outfit that has the capability to carry out suicide strikes, but attempts by the outfit to repeat such strikes can’t be ruled out. To prevent that, extra measures will remain in places that include a well-knit grid of road opening parties to be supported by the random area domination drills and night patrolling in the suspicious areas and highway spots.”
Abid Bashir