Search the Internet          Tips

6 districts of J&K declared disturbed

The Centre on Wednesday night decided to declare six districts of Jammu and Kashmir, Udhampur, Kathua, Doda, Jammu, Rajouri and Poonch, as 'disturbed' under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act to give more powers to security forces to combat militancy.

The decision was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Union Home Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani in the face of stepped up militant attacks on innocent civilians in Doda and Jammu, especially the killing of 10 people at the Jammu railway station on Tuesday night.

Emerging from the two-and-a-half hour meeting, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah said that security forces would now be armed with 'greater powers' to combat militancy on a war footing.

"The Disturbed Areas Act will be imposed in six districts of the Jammu region, including Doda, Udhampur and Rajouri," Abdullah said.

With this decision the armed would have full powers to arrest the suspects without warrant and carryout search and cordon operation, like in the Kashmir valley.

The two-hour-long meeting at the home ministry thoroughly reviewed the situation in Kashmir.

Various measures to improve the security grid in the state were discussed at the meeting attended by Defense Minister Jaswant Singh, Kashmir Governor Girish Chandra Saxena, Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, Home Secretary Kamal Pande, Chief of Army Staff Gen S Padmanabhan, senior security and intelligence officials.

Abdullah said orders to give more powers to the armed forces would be passed at a state cabinet meeting in Srinagar immediately after his return from New Delhi.

He said enforcing the Disturbed Areas Act was one of the steps in the proposed proactive policy to defeat what he called Pakistan-sponsored terrorist attacks in Kashmir.

EARLIER REPORT:
J&K to be declared disturbed area

RELATED REPORTS:
Militants getting desperate: ID Swami
Jammu tense; indefinite curfew imposed

Tell us what you think of this report