With the Amarnath yatra just two months away, security agencies on Saturday discussed ways and means to tackle threats like vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices in south Kashmir.
Top security officials of the Jammu and Kashmir Police, CRPF, Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), CID and the Army held a meeting in south Kashmir’s Anantnag. The 62-day yatra will commence from July 1, 2023 this year.
Officials said securing the national highway, which connects Jammu with the Srinagar and the Amarnath route in south Kashmir’s Pahalgam, remained the focus of the meeting. The threat posed by vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices and other potential militant threats were debated and counter-measures were discussed, they said.
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Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Vijay Kumar instructed all Senior Superintendents of Police (SP) “to focus on anti-militant operations, the busting of militant modules by apprehending terrorist associates”. “The police officers were specially tasked to generate preventive intelligence and share timely information amongst all stakeholders,” the police said.
The Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) of convoy movement was also discussed and fresh suggestions incorporated to upgrade it further. “All the field officers gave their assessment,” the police said.
The Army’s Victor Force asked its Sector Commanders “to carry out extensive area domination at night”.
Booked under PSA
Meanwhile, the authorities in Rajouri booked one person under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) for facilitating “movement of terrorists”.
According to the police, Waqar Hussain Bajran, a resident of Bhanghai village, Rajouri’s Thanamandi, was “a notorious overground worker”.
“He has been booked under the PSA for facilitating the movement of terrorists. The accused indulged in anti-national activities and was working as an active guide and facilitator for terrorist organisations till his arrest,” the police said.
The police said the accused visited the Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia, and “came into contact with militant organisations and was actively involved in providing logistics support to the terrorist outfit”.
The accused has been booked under sections of the UAPA. “Keeping in view the activities of the accused and the fact that he poses a threat to the security of the State, he was ordered to be detained,” the police said.
Aggressive counter-insurgency operations are going on in the area with strict measures against those facilitating terrorists in any way, the police said.
The measures come as five soldiers were killed in a militant attack in the Poonch-Rajouri Sector on April 20.
