Union Home Minister Amit Shah reviews J&K security situation

New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday, December 19, reviewed the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir, the first such meeting on the Union territory since the assembly elections were held there during September-October, sources said.

J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and top officers of the Army, paramilitary forces, J&K administration, intelligence agencies and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) attended the meeting.

This was Shah’s first meeting to review the security situation in the Union territory after the recent assembly elections that brought to power a National Conference government headed by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.

After the abrogation of Article 370 and the bifurcation of the erstwhile state into two UTs in 2019, law and order in Jammu and Kashmir comes under the central government.

The Union home minister had a detailed discussion on the security roadmap for 2025, the sources said.

Sporadic terror incidents have been continuing in Jammu and Kashmir. On October 20, seven people were killed in a terror attack in central Kashmir. Before that, there were attacks on outsiders working in the Valley.

Shah’s meeting is expected to take note of the recent terror incidents and the possible steps to be taken on how to stop such attacks in the coming days, the sources added.

According to official data, 142 terrorists were killed in J&K in 2019 and the number is around 45 so far this year.

Fifty civilians were killed in 2019 in the UT, while the figure stood at 14 by the first week of November this year.