Naxalism, terrorism discussed at security meet chaired by Home Minister Amit Shah

By Express News Service

NEW DELHI:  Union Home minister Amit Shah on Monday chaired a high-level security meeting with the police chiefs of all states and Union Territotries as well as those of all central police forces — CRPF, CISF, BSF, SSB and Assam Rifles. 

Various security and policing issues were discussed in the biannual review meeting, officials said. The meeting is part of the exercise initiated by the home minister to meet the top police brass once in six months. Terrorism and Naxalism were discussed at length in the National Security Strategies  Conference that took place at the headquarters of Intelligence Bureau (IB) in the national capital. 

“Deliberations were detailed and expansive, given the presence of all DGPs and DGs of central police forces. The conference deliberated on various internal security challenges and discussed ways to tackle them firmly,”  a home ministry spokesperson said.

While the meeting covered a wide range of security issues, the developments in Jammu and Kashmir — which has been witnessing a spate of targeted killings of migrant labourers — were also discussed  in the meeting, sources said.  In October so far, 13 civilians — five of them coming from other states — have been killed by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir, setting off a wave of panic among the people. An official said this indicates that the terrorists want to drive people from other states out of Kashmir.

On Sunday, two men from Bihar were gunned down by terrorists in Kashmir’s Kulgam district. Twenty-four hours earlier, a gol-gappa hawker from Bihar and a carpenter from Uttar Pradesh were shot dead in the Kashmir Valley.The security forces have also intensified anti-terror operations killing 13 militants so far, according to the Jammu and Kashmir Police.  

The series of attacks on civilians come days before the home minister is to make his maiden visit to Jammu and Kashmir since the erstwhile state was bifurcated into two Union Territories and its special status granted under the Constitution was scrapped in August 2019.