Shah to review J-K security situation, preparations for Amarnath Yatra

NEW DELHI: Union Home Minister Amit Shah will review the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday, sources said.

The home minister will also review the preparations for the annual Amarnath pilgrimage set to start on June 29.

Shah will chair a high-level meeting here at North Block, three days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a similar meeting where he directed officials to deploy the "full spectrum of counter-terror capabilities" after a spate of terror incidents, including an attack on a bus carrying pilgrims.

The home minister is expected to give broad guidelines to intensify counter-terror operations in Jammu and Kashmir, the sources said.

National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir Manoj Sinha, Army Chief General Manoj Pande, Army Chief-designate Lt. General Upendra Dwivedi, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla, Director of Intelligence Bureau Tapan Deka, Director General of CRPF Anish Dayal Singh, Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police R R Swain and other top security officials are expected to attend the meeting.

Shah is likely to be apprised about the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir, the deployment of forces along the International Border and Line of Control, infiltration attempts, the status of ongoing anti-terror operations and the strength of terrorists operating in the Union Territory, the sources said.

He is expected to give broad guidelines about the immediate action to be taken by the security agencies in line with the prime minister's directive, they said.

Terrorists struck at four places in Reasi, Kathua and Doda districts of Jammu and Kashmir within four days last week, killing nine pilgrims and a CRPF jawan and leaving seven security personnel and several others injured.

Two suspected Pakistani terrorists were also killed in an encounter with security forces in Kathua district and a huge quantity of arms and ammunition were recovered from them.

The incidents come ahead of the annual pilgrimage to the cave shrine of Amarnath, located at a height of 3,880 metres in the south Kashmir Himalayas, which is set to begin on June 29 and will continue till August 19.

The Amarnath pilgrims travel through two routes -- Baltal and Pahalgam -- in Jammu and Kashmir.

The sources said that last year over 4.28 lakh people visited the shrine and the figure could go up to five lakh this time.

All pilgrims are expected to be given RFID cards so that their real-time location can be traced and everyone will be given Rs 5 lakh insurance cover.

There will also be an insurance cover of Rs 50,000 for each animal carrying the pilgrims.

Shah is expected to stress on providing smooth arrangements on the route from the airport and railway station to the pilgrimage base camp and proper security of all pilgrims, the sources added.