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Anti-insurgency ops to be stepped up in J&K

A high-level meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, today decided to step up anti-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir to foil attempts to disrupt the electoral process.

The meeting, which was attended by state Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah, chief secretary Ashok Jaitley, Lt Gen Krishan Pal, 15 corps commander, and Director-General of Police Gurbachan Jagat, felt there was a need to combat militancy more aggressively.

The prime minister summoned the chief minister and senior civil and military officials for urgent consultations following militant attacks on former Union home minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed and state Health Minister Mustafa Kamal during campaigning yesterday.

The chief minister apprised the prime minister of steps the state government took to ensure peace. Lt Gen Krishan Pal and the DGP gave a detailed account of the security scenario in the state and their plans to contain the militancy backed by Pakistan.

The chief minister has visited New Delhi several times in the past few weeks to urge the Centre to provide more security forces to the state to fight militancy.

The Pakistan-backed militant groups have stepped up their activities in the valley and are mainly targetting candidates of various political parties in the fray in the Lok Sabha elections. The Bharatiya Janata Party candidate from Anantnag parliamentary constituency, Noorani, was killed last week in a land mine blast near Bijbehera, the home town of Mufti Mohammed Sayeed.

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