National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval on Saturday met top officials in New Delhi to review the overall security situation of Jammu & Kashmir. The high-level meeting was convened against the backdrop of north Kashmir’s Handwara encounter. Six Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed in Sopore and Handwara in two separate incidents.
Despite a setback in the counter-terror operation, sources said J&K Police made a strong presentation on the elimination of top commanders of all terror groups, working on strong intelligence inputs.
This included Riyaz Naikoo of Hizbul Mujahideen, Burhan Koka of Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AuGH), Haider of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Mohammad Qari Yasir of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) in first five months of 2020.
Sources said that J&K Police unveiled a new strategy of using specialised concise “commando” team, instead of using a hundred odd men as part of the joint teams of the JKP, Army, and the CRPF.
Sources said that NSA Ajit Doval showered praises on security forces for the counter-terror operations in the Valley but said that in the wake of intelligence inputs of infiltration, the security forces should prepare for a “hot summer”.
Sources said the forces believe that currently, there are 250 terror operatives in the Valley. While the Army has put the figure of foreign terrorists (FT) at 70, the police assessment is that there are 90 terror operatives in the Valley.
Only nine foreign terrorists have been killed. Sources say that the foreign terrorists have cleverly avoided the use of communication to avoid being tracked.
The recent infiltration of a group of 20-25 terror operatives in both Jammu and Kashmir has raised concerns regarding the security situation.
NSA Ajit Doval also took note of the increased air activity by Pakistan Air Force (PAF) along India’s western border days after Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan claimed that India could use the current tension to launch a “false flag operation” against his country on the pretext of infiltration.
In the recent past, India has carried out preemptive strikes at terror launch pads in Pakistani territory.
The five-hour-long meeting was attended by Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane, Intelligence Bureau (IB) Director Arvind Kumar, DG JK Police Dilbagh Singh, DG CRPF AP Maheshwari and DG BSF SS Deswal amongst others.
