New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday expressed confidence that the goal of achieving a “terror-free Jammu and Kashmir” will soon be realised and instructed security agencies to ensure complete dominance over terrorism in the region.
During a high-level meeting at the Home Ministry to assess the security situation in the Union Territory, Shah said in alignment with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s zero-tolerance policy towards terrorism, “we will achieve the goal of ‘terror-free Jammu and Kashmir’ at the earliest.”
He assured that all necessary resources will be allocated to support this mission, an official statement from the ministry said.
The Home Minister highlighted the central government’s commitment, emphasising that through the joint efforts of all security forces, there is a determination to eliminate terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.
He noted the remarkable participation of the local population in both Assembly and Lok Sabha elections as a testament to their faith in democracy.
The Home Minister commended the security agencies for their success in significantly reducing terrorist incidents, infiltration and youth recruitment into terrorist organisations.
He said that sustained efforts by the Modi government have “nearly dismantled” the terrorism ecosystem in Jammu and Kashmir.
Shah directed all security agencies to maintain coordinated efforts to eradicate terrorism and stressed the importance of implementing the Area Domination Plan and Zero Terror Plan in a mission-oriented manner.
The meeting was attended by Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir Manoj Sinha, Union Home Secretary, Director (IB), RAW Chief, Chief of Army Staff, GOC-in-C (Northern Command), DGMO, Chief Secretary and DGP of Jammu and Kashmir Nalin Prabhat, heads of CAPFs and other senior officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
This was Shah’s first meeting to review the security situation in the Union Territory after the recent assembly elections that brought to power the 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 meeting comes on a day when five terrorists of the banned Hizbul Mujahideen were gunned down by security forces in South Kashmir.
Ahead of this security review meeting, the Home Minister met Abdullah.
Later talking to reporters about the militancy situation in the Union Territory, the chief minister said security and law and order are the responsibility of the lieutenant governor.
“I have always said and I told the home minister that ‘you cannot fight militancy and terrorism in a vacuum, you will have to take the public of Jammu and Kashmir in confidence… they will also have to be brought into this battle, and for that, you will have to take into confidence their elected representatives and their elected government’,” Abdullah, who was not part of the review meeting, said.
