The Hindu : Front Page : Patil suggests steps to counter terrorism in J&K

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Nov 22, 2004

Front Page

Front Page

Patil suggests steps to counter terrorism in J&K

NEW DELHI, NOV. 21. The Union Home Minister, Shivraj Patil, has said in a report to the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, that improved coordination between the security forces and intelligence agencies was crucial to counter terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.

This would be useful when political leaders addressed public meetings. The intelligence agencies and security forces should be equipped with the latest communication equipment and gadgets and provided better training and skills to match the sophisticated devices used by the terrorists, Mr. Patil said in the 70-page report on the State presented to Dr. Singh last week.

To protect remote villages with scattered dwellings in mountainous areas, local villagers should be encouraged to form village defence committees. Adequate protection should be given to informers.

Mr. Patil said 58 important leaders, including 10 chief and deputy chief commanders and 28 district commanders, had been eliminated this year.

Security cover

He said the security cover for the Chief Minister and politicians in the State should be upgraded on the lines of the Prime Minister's Special Protection Group. An experienced official of the SPG should consult the Chief Minister to improve the security apparatus.

The security cover for visible targets and senior politicians such as the Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, his daughter Mehbooba Mufti, the former Chief Minister, Farooq Abdullah, his son and National Conference president, Omar Abdullah, the Deputy Chief Minister, Mangat Ram Sharma, and some other Ministers and leaders should be augmented.

The Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad, who is from Jammu and Kashmir, should be given the security cover of the paramilitary ITBP, he said, adding that the security arrangements for visits of senior Union Ministers to the State should be reviewed and upgraded.

Sources said the recommendations of the Home Minister might require clearance from the Cabinet, Parliament and the State Government.

Mr. Patil said the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Northern Command of the Army should be made the Principal Advisor of the Unified Headquarters set up by the Government in 1996.

There should be frequent meetings of the Unified Headquarters headed by the Chief Minister.

The report said the roads between Jammu and Sialkot in Pakistan, Srinagar and Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir and Kargil and Skardu in the Northern Areas administered by Islamabad should be opened to enhance people-to-people contact. To provide employment opportunities, Mr. Patil suggested that nine India Reserve Battalions and one CRPF be raised.

Civic polls

Mr. Patil said all possible help should be rendered by the State Government to hold elections to municipal corporations and district bodies, the panchayats and cooperatives to bring about a sense of normality and people's participation.

During his recent three-day visit to the State, Mr. Patil was accompanied by the Ministers of State for Home, Sriprakash Jaiswal and S. Regupathy.

PTI

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