Union Home Minister Amit Shah will now visit Jammu for two days instead of the earlier schedule of the one-day tour and hold a high-level review of security situation and development works in Jammu and Kashmir with Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, the top brass of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), J&K Police, Intelligence agencies and civil administration.
As per the revised schedule, Shah will reach Jammu in the afternoon of March 18 and address CRPF Raising Day Parade at MA Stadium here on March 19, followed by a security review meeting. He will return to the Union capital on the evening of March 19.
Earlier, Shah was scheduled to visit Jammu on March 19 to address Jammu’s first-ever CRPF Raising Day.
Official sources said that top officials of all paramilitary forces, Intelligence agencies, Jammu and Kashmir Police and civil administration would attend the security review meeting, the Home Minister’s second in the Union Territory, in less than five months. He had visited J&K for five days from October 23-27 last year and reviewed security scenarios, development works etc., in Kashmir and addressed a rally in Jammu.
TOMORROW, the CRPF Raising Day functions will start with DG Parade at MA Stadium. CRPF Director General Kuldeep Singh has already reached here and other top officials of the paramilitary force.
In the next couple of days, senior officials of paramilitary forces and Intelligence agencies will reach here from New Delhi and Kashmir. The officers of civil administration and Jammu and Kashmir Police are already in Jammu monitoring security and other arrangements for the Home Minister’s visit.
Security review by the Home Minister comes close on the heels of the recent killings of three Panchayat members and two security personnel who had come home on leave in Kashmir. At the same time, there has been no let-up in the killings of militants. Many militants, including top commanders of the outfits, have been gunned down by the security personnel in the Kashmir valley.
Barring twice when the Raising Day of CRPF was observed at Nimach (North Indian Mounted Artillery and Cavalry Headquarters) in Madhya Pradesh, the paramilitary force’s annual functions have always been held in New Delhi and NCR, and this is for the first time when the function has been shifted out of these places to be held at Jammu.
Sources said Jammu had been chosen as a venue for Raising Day as CRPF plays a significant role in anti-militancy operations in Jammu and Kashmir and is instrumental in killing several militants in the Union Territory, especially in the Valley.
“The paramilitary force will show its strength with the function in Jammu,” sources said, adding that since there are many troops deployed in the Union Territory, holding the Raising Day in Jammu will send a good message across.
“Holding CRPF’s Raising Day in Jammu is aimed at sending another message to the militants in Jammu and Kashmir and their mentors across the border that security forces were fully geared up to face all challenges and dismantle the terror ecosystem,” sources said.
It may be mentioned here that the Border Security Force (BSF) had also shifted its Raising Day from Delhi-NCR to Jaisalmer in Rajasthan last year.
“This is for the first time when a paramilitary force is shifting its Raising Day venue from Delhi-NCR to Jammu and Kashmir. After the abrogation of Article 370, terrorism is in control in the UT. There are fewer incidents of stone-pelting and infiltration. Therefore, it would be better to celebrate the day here to give a positive message, especially from the place where the force has the highest deployment and maximum operations,” the officials said.
