NEW DELHI, Oct 20 — The Defence Minister, Mr George Fernandes, hopes to discuss with the Jammu and Kashmir Government the proposal of posting Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers straight out of probation to the state in a bid to give fresh direction to the administration there.

The Defence Minister, who will visit Srinagar on Sunday, said there had been suggestions to appoint young IAS officers just out of the academy in the valley for a year or two and the trainees themselves had expressed such a desire.

“Young IAS officers will not be burdened with having to prove themselves and hence will perform well,” Mr Fernandes told newspersons after the Defence Investiture ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan this morning.

The Defence Minister and Home Minister, Mr L.K. Advani, during a high-level meeting of the United Command at Srinagar on Sunday, will review the situation and see how the momentum in tackling militancy can be kept up. Mr Fernandes said the past three months had seen some very ‘rewarding’ achievements in dealing with terrorists and measures would have to be taken to build on these successes.

Mr Fernandes will leave tomorrow for visits to the northern most posts in Himachal Pradesh and spend the night at Those which, at 10,500 feet, is the base camp for the Siachen Glacier. The Defence Minister will go to posts in the Siachen Glacier on Sunday before reaching Srinagar.

A buyer-seller meeting will be held in Srinagar on Monday to see what local purchases can be made by the Army.

Mr Fernandes said that the comments of Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Mukut Mithi’s about the Chinese intrusions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) could not be ignored.

Mr Fernandes, who had earlier mentioned China as the “threat number one” for India, said that the Chinese intrusions in Arunachal Pradesh were a new development as when a month ago he had visited the state, there had been no mention of it. He said that he had only recently read reports attributing these statements to Mr Mithi.