J&K: Governor advisor reviews security situation in Kishtwar, Doda districts

A high level meeting Saturday reviewed the law and order situation in curfew-bound Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir, with K Vijay Kumar advisor to the Governor directing the SIT to complete the investigation into the killing of senior BJP leader and his brother as early as possible, officials said.

An indefinite curfew was imposed in parts of Kishtwar and Doda districts on Thursday night following the killing of BJP state secretary Anil Parihar, 52, and his brother, Ajeet Parihar, 55, by suspected militants.

Accompanied by Principal Secretary, home, R K Goyal, Director General of state police Dilbagh Singh and Divisional commissioner Jammu Sanjeev Verma, Kumar reached Kishtwar Saturday afternoon and convened a meeting of top level officers of Army, CRPF, Police and civil administration to review the prevailing law and order situation, the officials said.

The meeting was attended by Inspector General of Police, Jammu, S D Singh Jamwal , Deputy inspector general of police (Doda-Kishtwar-Ramban) Rafiq-ul- Hassan, Deputy Commissioner, Kishtwar, Angrez Singh Rana, SSP Kishtwar Rajinder Kumar Gupta, the officials said.

Rana briefed the meeting about the gruesome incident and post law and order situation after the assassination of Parihar brothers, the officials said.

Kumar directed Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by Additional Superintendent of police, Kishtwar, Prabeet Singh Parihar to expedite the investigation process and complete it as early as possible, they said.

The advisor also took a brief separate meeting with senior Army officers including General officer Commanding of Delta Force Major General Rajeev Nanda and reviewed the security scenario in the district.

The advisor also directed for checking the antecedents of all outsiders, including businessmen, vendors and labourers who are staying in the district town, the officials said.

He instructed the top brass of security agencies to ensure the sufficient deployment of security personnel at all sensitive and hyper sensitive places in the district.

"The bad elements who try to create any kind of hurdle during the smooth conduct of Panchayat elections, scheduled to start on November 17 under phase one, need to be dealt with sternly and booked under law,” Kumar added.

Later, MLA Kishtwar Sunil Sharma, MLA Raipur-Domana Bali Bhagat (both BJP), MLA Inderwal G M Saroori  (Congress), MLC Firdous Ahmed Tak (PDP) also met the advisor and demanded early investigation in the killing, the officials said.

They said representatives of Sanatan Dharam Sabha and Shoura Majlis Committee also apprised advisor about the incident and assured him for maintaining communal harmony, peace and brotherhood under all circumstances.

Besides Kishtwar town, the curfew is in force in several sensitive areas, including Paddar in Kishtwar and Bhadarwah and Doda townships in Doda district, as the killing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state secretary and his elder brother triggered massive protests across Jammu region.

The authorities have already suspended internet services in the curfew-bound areas, while the internet speed was slowed down in the rest of the division, including winter capital Jammu.

The Army also staged a flag march in the sensitive areas to help the district administration in Kishtwar to maintain law and order.

On Thursday, the Parihar brothers were walking towards their home in Parihar mohalla through a dark lane in Tapal Mohalla when they were fired upon from a close range by suspected militants around 8.40 pm, officials said.

The assailants were apparently waiting for the brothers to return home, they said.

(With inputs from agencies.)