At Meeting With Amit Shah, J&K To Present Blueprint To Secure Minorities

A high-level security meeting will be held in North Block on Tuesday amid targeted attack on minorities and migrant workers in Jammu and Kashmir.

The meeting is to be chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and J&K L-G Manoj Sinha along with senior officials in the administration. Dilbag Singh, Director General of Police (DGP), J&K, and Special DG CID Rashmi Ranjan Swain will also attend the meeting.

The J&K administration will be presenting a blueprint of measures taken by them to secure minorities and upcoming Amarnath Yatra.

"Recent targeted killings in Kashmir Valley have proved that plan to protect minorities needs a rejig. So Kashmiri Pandits would be shifted to secure tehsil districts and headquarters," said a senior official in J&K administration.

The L-G said he has constituted a special cell for PM package employees in the L-G secretariat to look into grievances of the Kashmiri Pandit employees.

The cell will coordinate with district administrations and other departments to resolve all issues. Additional secretary Akshay Labroo will serve as the cell's nodal officer, he said, adding that Home Minister Amit Shah would be briefed on all these recent decisions too.

Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla and heads of all Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and Central Intelligence agencies besides other senior officers of the Ministry of Home Affairs are also expected to attend the meeting.

Officials claim that the Amarnath Yatra is going to be historic and the administration is leaving no stone to make it safe for each yatri visiting the holy cave. About 6-8 lakh pilgrims are expected to go for darshan this year.

"This year not only vehicles but also all yatris would be given Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags for safety reason," a senior official, who did not wish to be named, said.

According to him, these RFIDs would be provided by Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB). "Earlier only vehicles were provided RFIDs but this year each Yatri would get one RFID," he explained, adding RFIDs to vehicles were provided by CRPF.

Security agencies are on alert since two Jaish terrorists were gunned down in Jammu ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit.

Last week, four passengers were killed and at least 20 more injured when a bus they were travelling in caught fire near Katra in Jammu.

The incident of bus catching fire carrying Vaishno Devi pilgrims further heightened state of alert.

"The sticky bomb was attached near the fuel tank of the bus full of pilgrims," said a source.

This year Amarnath yatra will begin on June 30 and end on August 11.