Be ''harsh'' to militants: J

Jammu, May 13 (UNI) Taking serious note of the Samba encounter wherein a photojournalist among six people was killed by the Fidayeens, the Jammu and Kashmir Police today firmly passed directions of getting more strict and ''harsh'' with militants.

In a meeting of officers at Udhampur district today, Inspector General of Police, Jammu Zone, K Rajendra Kumar directed all G O's of Udhampur-Range to remain alert and vigilant to thwart any nefarious designs of anti-social and anti-national elements.

''A frequent checking and search operations should be launched in the suspected areas and hard work is required to be done to neutralise the militants operating inside our territory,'' the IGP said adding police officers should promptly respond to public complaints and be friendly with the people.

The terrain is very tough in areas like Doda, Kishtwar, Gool and Mahore where response time is lengthier as compared to other regions but these problems can be overcome by developing specific intelligence about presence and movement of militants for launching operations against them,'' Mr Kumar said.

Though there is a tremendous decrease in militancy the same has not finished yet as infiltration is still on and the launching pads of the militants are still intact across the border,'' he said asserting, ''it is time to remain extremely vigilant and alert in view of the forthcoming assembly elections in the state and Shri Amarnath Yatra-2008 as militants seem to be determined to disturb peace.'' UNI VBH RL KN1958