Rakib Altaf
SRINAGAR, June 19: The government of Jammu and Kashmir has received no inputs from state or central intelligence agencies about militant attacks on the Hindu Amarnath pilgrimage, highly placed sources say.
The army recently said that they had received information about militants planning to disrupt the Yatra, one of the holiest pilgrimages for Hindus of the country.
Today, the state’s Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah chaired a meeting of the Unified Headquarters (UHQ) where he was briefed on the prevailing security and law and order situation.
Reliable sources in the government, who attended the meeting, told Freepress that the issue – of an increased threat perception during the yatra – was “not even discussed”.
The UHQ meeting was attended by ministers, army commanders, the Director General of state Police, top officers of the CRPF, BSF and Intelligence officials besides others.
The state’s home ministry recently issued a circular directing security forces to increase surveillance in view of the entire yatra route being “highly prone to militant attacks”.
The army says they have put adequate security arrangements in place to ensure an ‘incident-free’ yatra. They have named the operation as ‘Operation Shiva’.
But the sources say the circular was a “regular one like the one issued last year”.
“It is just usual. There are no inputs that there is an increase in the threat of attacks by militants.”
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