Increased infiltration and the influx of terrorists through different parts of the country into Jammu and Kashmir were the focus of a meeting chaired by Home Minister Shivraj Patil in Srinagar, during which security agencies opposed any reduction of troops in the state.
During the over two hour-long meeting, held in Srinagar on Saturday evening, officials of the army, paramilitary forces and police highlighted the fact that the level of infiltration is on the rise and militant activities were showing a considerable increase.
Sources said the officials told the meeting that a strict watch is being maintained to uphold human rights and efforts were on to achieve the 'zero tolerance' of rights abuses as envisaged by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
While there was no clear-cut policy announcement made by Patil, he asked them to devise a strategy that would be discussed by the Centre in the national capital.
The 72-year-old Patil heard the officials silently while speaker after speaker highlighted the seriousness of the situation and spoke of the increasing number of infiltrators sneaking into the Kashmir Valley from across the border, the sources said.
"You devise a strategy. Keep up the good work. We will see what can be done," the Home Minister was quoted as saying by the sources after hectic discussions on the fresh plans of militants to foment trouble.
The officials strongly opposed any move to reduce or redeploy troops engaged in counter-insurgency operations as they feared this could give the militants an advantage.
The sources, privy to the meeting, said Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, who too attended the meeting, gauged the restlessness among the security forces and acknowledged that the situation needed to be dealt with firmly but after ensuring that human rights were not violated.
During the meeting, Patil said there had been reports about infiltration from various parts of the country, including from the sea route.
However, there was no word after that as to whether the Centre has framed any strategy to counter this or if something more needed to be done, the sources said.
The meeting also discussed the recent kidnapping of state police Head Constable Farooq Ahmed Tantray, who was beheaded in a barbaric manner.
This, officials said, could be a clear message by the militants that there would be no let-up in violence.
Besides, there is an apprehension that the number of Afghan and Pakistani militants within terrorist groups in Kashmir has increased, they said.
Harkat-ul-Ansar's shadow group Al-Faran had killed Norwegian tourist Hans Christan Ostro in a similar manner in 1995.
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