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Centre, Kashmir decide on steps to combat terror

Amberish K Diwanji in New Delhi

The marathon high-level meeting called by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee at his residence to discuss the situation in Jammu & Kashmir ended late this evening with several decisions being taken to combat the growing terrorism in the state.

The meeting is being attended by Home Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani, Defence Minister George Fernandes, Kashmir Governor Girish Chandra Saxena, Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, Chief of Army Staff General Ved Prakash Malik, and senior officials of the central and state governments.

A statement issued while the meeting was in progress said the participants had already agreed upon a few measures to combat the growing militancy in the valley. These are:

1. Raising more battalions of the central paramilitary forces trained specially for counter-terrorism operations. 2. Deploying more security forces along the Line of Control and the international border in Kashmir. 3. Setting up a unified headquarters and a three-tier command structure for the security forces in the valley and another unified HQ for the areas north of the Zoji La. 4. Launching a special operation with retired soldiers and members of the village defence committees to curb infiltration and exfiltration along the LoC and international border. 5. Dividing the state into 49 grid sectors to help synergise operations among the different security forces operating in the state. 6. Launching a special economic development programme to relieve the suffering of the masses, with a supplementary programme for the areas along the border and special funds for the Border Roads Organisation. 7. Starting new employment generation projects.

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