Rajnath, Jaitley discuss militancy, youth protests in JK

During the hour-long meeting, top intelligence brass gave presentation on the prevailing situation in the state, which has seen spurt in militancy-related incidents in the past.

New Delhi, March 31: Militancy and protests by locals at encounter sites in Jammu and Kashmir came up for intense discussions at a high-level meeting chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh and attended by Defence and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley besides others.

During the hour-long meeting, top intelligence brass gave presentation on the prevailing situation in the state, which has seen spurt in militancy-related incidents in the past, and how to deal with it, official sources said.

Protests by locals at encounter sites, radicalisation of youths are other key issues which were deliberated at the meeting, also attended by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi.

The meeting took stock of Pakistan's attempt of using social media to incite youths in Kashmir Valley to storm encounter sites to help holed-up militants.

Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police S P Vaid yesterday had said youths who storm the encounter sites in the Valley to hurl stones at security personnel are committing suicide.

Last month, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat had said that local Kashmiri people creating hurdles by throwing stones at the security personnel during anti-terror operations will be dealt as anti-nationals and will face "harsh" actions.

The Rs 80,000-crore package for Jammu and Kashmir announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in November 2015 also came up for discussion and the two Ministers expressed satisfaction over the progress of work in this regard.

So far Rs 17,000 crore has been released to the state government by the Centre as the first instalment of the package.

PTI