Manmohan Singh presides over Cabinet security meet on Kashmir

New Delhi, July 7 (ANI): The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, on Wednesday called for a Cabinet Committee on Security meeting to assess situation in Kashmir.

The meeting will decide on the mandate for the army, which has been called into the Valley to assist the state administration in maintaining law and order as all major towns of the Kashmir Valley continue to remain under curfew.

The meeting reportedly will also look into the logistic deployment of the Army in Kashmir.

The meeting is being attended by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Defence Minister A K Anthony, Home Minister P. Chidambaram, Army chief General VK Singh and chiefs of the Intelligence Bureau and Research and Analysis Wing.

The army was called in Tuesday night following violent protests, which left three persons dead and over 70 injured.

The decision to deploy the Army was taken after the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah made a formal request for its help in enforcing curfew and maintaining law and order in Srinagar.

According to sources, the Army will not be used for crowd control and that its presence is restricted to being a deterrent.

Sources also said the Army is not keen on having any direct confrontation with people. The Centre is concerned about the political impact of using the Army for law and order operations.

The situation in the valley has been tense over the past few weeks due to repeated clashes between protestors and security forces. (ANI)