Jammu: Jammu and Kashmir’s Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and Army chief General Upend era Dwivedi Saturday chaired two seperate joint security review meetings in Jammu where a new counter militancy strategy was rolled that entails—“plugging the operational flaws, intensifying counter militancy operations and tracking the hiding militants with active support of locals.”
Sources privy to the meeting said that General Dwivedi arrived in Jammu at 2:30 pm and chaired the first security review meeting at Police Headquarters, Jammu. The meeting ended at 4 pm. Sources said that at 4:30 pm, another security review meeting was held at Rajbhawan, Jammu that chaired by LG Manoj Sinha.
Both meetings, as per sources, were attended by Director General of Police (DGP) RR Swain, DG BSF, DG CRPF, Heads of Intelligence Agencies and other senior officials of army, CAPFs and J&K Police at Rajbhawan, Jammu.
The security review meetings in Jammu came close on the heels of the July 16 militant ambush in Doda district where five soldiers were killed and as many injured. On July 14, Prime Minister Narendera Modi chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security. The meeting was followed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s another security review where surge in militant strikes in Jammu was discussed threadbare.
In the meeting held at PHQ Jammu, sources said that the security officials discussed threadbare the modus-operandi of militants operating in Jammu, how they managed to sneak in, routes used by them to infiltrate, possibility of new tunnels dug along International Border and routes being used by foreign militants to enter Jammu via Punjab border. They said that the Army chief stressed on well-coordinated efforts to tackle new militancy challenges in the Jammu region while ensuring minimal casualties to security forces, especially the army. In the past 32 months, 41 soldiers have been killed in Jammu alone in a spate of militant attacks, triggering a security concern for the grid.
“The meeting focused on plugging the operational flaws and intensifying the counter militancy operations while following a renewed strategy,” a source said. “It was also decided to zero in on the militant-eco system and militant sympathisers strictly. The meeting also evolved a consensus that a close watch must be maintained on the former militants and Over Ground Workers (OGWs).”
