Cabinet Committee on Security discusses J-K situation amid spate in terror attacks
Aditi Tandon
New Delhi, July 18
Amid a spate of terrorist attacks in Jammu region, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday chaired the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security and took stock of the ground situation in the UT.
The CCS meeting came as two soldiers were injured in an encounter with terrorists in Jaddan Bata village of Jammu’s Doda.
The security situation would determine the preparedness for elections in Jammu and Kashmir as the Supreme Court in December last year had directed the Election Commission to conduct polls in J&K by September 30. The spate of violence in J&K could potentially delay poll timelines, it is learnt.
The latest encounter in Doda happened when terrorists attacked a temporary security camp set up in a government school in the area as part of the search operations launched by the Army after the killing of four of its personnel, including a Captain, by militants in the Desa forest area.
The CCS was attended by National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.
Sources said the PM took stock of the J&K security situation and progress after his first major review of the matter mid-June, when he had ordered the security agencies to intensify counter-terrorism operations in Jammu and Kashmir. The meeting had then reviewed the ground deployment and the need for additional forces in the wake of the spurt in violence in Jammu and Kashmir.
The CCS meeting came a day after the Army Chief briefed the PM on the situation. Over 100 security personnel have been killed in J&K over the past three years with nearly 40% in Jammu alone.
In the recent past, several terror attacks have taken place in Jammu. On July 15, four soldiers were killed in Doda; on July 8, five Army personnel were killed and five injured when militants attacked their convoy in Kathua; on June 11 and 12, six soldiers were killed in two attacks; on June 9, nine people were killed and 33 injured when terrorists opened fire at a bus ferrying pilgrims in Reasi; on May 4, an IAF man was killed and five injured after militants attacked two vehicles in Poonch.
