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| New Delhi peeved, land return still not on agenda | | | Early Times Reporter
Jammu | Aug 4
• Home, Defence Secretaries rushed in to J&K
• PM may convene all-party meet on August 6
• IB report describes agitation as mass movement
• Home Minister assures more security deployment
After loss of seven lives in past three days and still no signs of any improvement in the situation, the Central Government has finally woken up from its slumber and kicked off measures to find early solution of the issue.
Peeved over the “alarming inputs”, the Prime Minister’s Office and the Home Ministry received the Central Government rushed two top bureaucrats to Jammu to review the situation. Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta and Defence Secretary Vijay Singh arrived here this evening and then flew to Srinagar for a late night meeting with the Governor NN Vohra.
Upon their arrival in Jammu by a special aircraft at around 6PM, the Union Home Secretary Gupta and Defence Secretary Singh had a meeting with the top officers of Administration led by Principal Secretary Home Anil Goswami at Technical Airport. After a brief meeting they flew by the special plane to Srinagar for holding meeting with the Governor, the sources said.
Highly placed sources told EARLY TIMES that the Central Government had been convinced by the inputs that there is no middle path except for restoration of 800 kanals of land at Baltal to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board for creating facilities for the pilgrims. It is also learnt that despite in full know of the dominant public sentiment in Jammu, the Central Government was not immediately prepared on cancellation of land revocation order fearing a far more severe backlash in the Valley. The Prime Minister is likely to convene an all-party meeting in New Delhi on Wednesday to discuss the measures for finding an early solution to the problem.
Sources said that reported gathered by the Intelligence Bureau informed the Central Government that the present agitation was no more in the hands of those who had actually initiated this. After an assessment of situation from across the region, the IB reported told the Center that the ongoing agitation has snowballed into a mass movement and it was not possible even for the Shri Amarnath Yatra Sangharsh Samiti to call it off till the basic issue was not addressed.
Despite all these ground assessment reports, the sources said, Center was reluctant to take a decision on restoration of land as demanded by the majority in Jammu region. While Center was exploring different options to restore peace in the region, it was meanwhile decided to rush in more security forces if requested by the state government. The Governor NN Vohra has summoned a meeting of the Unified Headquarters at Srinagar to take a view of the situation and discuss additional security requirements.
Earlier in the evening, the Centre today rushed Union Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta and Defence Secretary Vijay Singh to Jammu. During their visit, Gupta and Singh interacted with officials of the Jammu and Kashmir government and Army and took on the spot assessment of the volatile situation in the state which is witnessing unrest over the land controversy, sources said.
The decision to send two top officials came after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil to his residence late last night upon his return from Colombo. Patil also convened a meeting at his residence today during which the government reviewed the situation in the sensitive border state, currently under Governor's rule. The steps being taken by the local authorities also figured in the meeting which also decided to provide all assistant required by the state government.
Meanwhile, referring to the visit of central team, an official spokesman said that indicating that the Union Government is concerned over the situation that is developing in Jammu region, the Central team stressed the need for handling the situation in such a manner that life and property of the people are fully protected and no element is allowed to exploit the situation. It said that communal harmony must be maintained at all costs and it must be ensured that the minorities do not feel insecure.
The Union Home Secretary asked the administration to ensure that communication links to all areas are kept through so that essential supplies are maintained despite continuous bandhs. As regards movement of trucks carrying essential commodities and general merchandise from outside the State, Mr. Gupta said that all measures have been initiated at all levels to ensure un-interrupted movement of such trucks.
The Central team complimented the State administration including the Police, Army and the Para-military forces for handling the situation since the last one month properly and with restraint. He, however, impressed upon the administration to maintain law and order with firmness.
At the meeting, Mr Goswami, Director General of Police, Mr. Kuldeep Khoda, GOC 26 Div. Maj. Gen. D. L. Choudhary, IGP Jammu Zone, Mr. K. Rajendra Kumar and Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, Mr. Sudhanshu Pandey briefed the Central team about the changing dimensions of the situation and the challenges that are unfolding every day. It was explained that every effort has been properly made to handle the incidents which have the potential of creating communal disharmony. |
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