Home Minister Rajnath Singh arrived in Kashmir Valley on two-day visit to assess security situation and pay visit to Amarnath cave

The Home Minister Rajnath Singh arrived in Kashmir Valley on Wednesday along with National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba on two-day visit to assess security situation and pay visit to Amarnath cave. 

The trio arrived in Srinagar on Wednesday afternoon and moved to Raj Bhawan for a meeting with Governor N N Vohra, where they would stay there overnight. 

“Home Minister held discussions with the Governor on various important issues relating to security management, implementation of development programs and positive engagement of the youth in the state,” Raj Bhawan spokesperson said. Singh is also chairing a meeting in Srinagar on Thursday and would pay visit to Amarnath cave.

On Wednesday evening, NSA and Home Secretary along with the three advisors of the J&K Governor-- BB Vyas, Vijay Kumar and Khursheed Ganai held a security review meeting that was attended by the senior Army, police and CRPF officials.

The meeting sources said discussed the challenges of tackling militancy and preparedness in wake of death anniversary of Hizb ul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani falling on July 8. The joint Hurriyat leadership of Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik also called for complete strike on July 8 and also planned a public meeting in Tral on the same day.

The review meeting took place in the background of increasing levels of violence in the state, with around 210 people including 58 civilians, over 104 militants and 48 killed in first six months this year.

The NSA, sources said also asked the officials in the state to explain the trend of increased recruitment in militant ranks despite Operation All Out aimed at wiping out the militancy from the state.

The official data reveals that a minimum of 90 local boys have joined militant ranks this year till now and over 310 incidents related to militancy were reported in the same period. Out of 90 over 50 local youngsters have joined from south Kashmir.

The BJP while announcing the demise of its alliance with the PDP on June 19 reasoned that deteriorating security scenario in the Valley forced them to pull out of the coalition. The BJP said that Governor rule was necessary to pull the Valley out of the lawlessness and implement rule of law.

In the first two weeks of Governor rule, Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Army Chief Bipin Rawat, NSG chief Sudeep Lakhtakia, BJP president Amit Shah and party’s general secretary Ram Madhav have visited the state to assess the situation on ground.