Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla reviewed the security situation in J&K
Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla on Tuesday reviewed the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir, days after the terrorist group released a hit list of 56 workers belonging to the Kashmiri Pandit community.
The meeting was attended by other senior officials of the ministry, paramilitary forces, Jammu and Kashmir administration and police.
An official said that the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir was reviewed during the meeting.
Another official said it was a regular monthly review meeting and some representatives of the Jammu and Kashmir administration participated in it through video conferencing.
Members of the Kashmiri Pandit community working in the Valley are reportedly in a state of panic after the terrorist group released a ‘hit list’ of 56 workers among them.
A blog linked to The Resistance Front (TRF), an offshoot of Lashkar-e-Taiba, published a list of 56 Kashmiri Pandit workers recruited under the Prime Minister’s Rehabilitation Package (PMRP) and warned of increased attacks on them.
After the targeted killings by the terrorists, many Kashmiri Pandits who were posted in the Valley under the PMRP have shifted to Jammu and have been protesting for over 200 days demanding the transfer of the rest.
Jammu and Kashmir has seen sporadic incidents of violence in recent months, including attacks on innocent civilians, security forces and attempts at infiltration from across the border, officials said.
The government had told Parliament that since the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019 till July 2022, 118 civilians, including five Kashmiri Pandits and 16 Hindus and Sikhs, had been killed in Jammu and Kashmir.
The killings of Kashmiri Pandits sparked protests by community members, who demanded improved security and shifting of government employees to safer places.
In May, four Hindu pilgrims were killed and at least 20 injured when a bus caught fire near Katra in Jammu.
Police suspect that a sticky bomb may have been used to start the fire.
Article 370, which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir, was abrogated on 5 August 2019 and bifurcated into two Union Territories, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
(This story was not edited by Smart Educated staff and was generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)
