Centre's J&K healing touch plan: Avoid civilian casualties, restore peace

The Centre's top priority in troubled Jammu and Kashmir is to avoid further casualties, both civilian and of the security forces, a high-level security review meet chaired by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh decided on Tuesday.

The meeting, attended by National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, the Home secretary and the director of the Intelligence Bureau, focused entirely on the J&K issue.

The officials briefed Singh about the ongoing situation in the state. Issues relating to cross-border infiltration too were discussed.

However, the immediate emphasis should be on restoring peace and ensuring that there are no further civilian casualties, the meeting decided.

Closer coordination with and greater support to the state police to flush out the militants, apart from greater intelligence sharing, is necessary to bring the situation under control.

The meeting also reviewed the rise in the number of deaths of security personnel. It was stated that several elements in the Valley were continuing to fuel protests as a result of which security forces had to take tough action. Some terrorists had already infiltrated into J&K and were causing trouble, it was noted.