Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla on Wednesday reviewed the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir in the wake of several encounters and civilian killings, officials said. Top officials of the Jammu and Kashmir Police, Central Reserve Police Force and Border Security Force attended the meeting that lasted over an hour.
The home secretary was briefed about the prevailing law and order situation in Jammu and Kashmir, an official said. The recent civilian killings by terrorists and incidents of encounters between the security forces and terrorists also figured in the meeting which was held three days before the DGPs conference is scheduled to take place in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and about 250 top officials in the rank of DGPs and IGPs will attend the meeting to be held on November 20-21. Security forces in Jammu and Kashmir killed two terrorists in operations in Gopalpora on Wednesday. Further, two active terrorist associates of proscribed terrorist outfit LeT were apprehended in Pulwama on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, a controversy has erupted over the encounter that took place in Srinagar on Monday following conflicting claims about the two deceased civilians as their family members contested the police's charge that they were "terror associates". A woman principal and teacher were shot dead at point blank range inside a government school in Srinagar last month.
Makhan Lal Bindroo, a prominent Kashmiri Pandit and owner of Srinagar's most famous pharmacy, was also shot dead at his shop last month. A 'chaat' vendor, Virendra Paswan from Bihar, and another civilian, Mohammad Shafi Lone, were also killed in October in Srinagar and in Bandipora respectively . According to official statistics, a total 28 civilians were killed by terrorists till last month this year. Out of 28 killed, five people belonged to local Hindu or Sikh communities and two were non-local Hindu labourers.
Officials said due to the killings of a large numbers of terrorists of all outfits specially their leaderships and the destruction of their support systems, the terrorists' Pakistan-based handlers have got frustrated and changed their strategy and started targeting unarmed policemen, politicians, and innocent civilians including women. In all such cases, terrorists have been using pistols which they can carry easily, officials said.
Most of these acts are committed by newly recruited terrorists or those who are about to join the terrorists rank, they said. According to official data, till the end of October this year, 97 terrorists attacks have been reported in Jammu and Kashmir of which 71 were on security forces and 26 on civilians.
In 2020, a total of 105 attacks were reported — 80 on security forces and 25 on civilians.
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