Union Home Ministe Amit Shah calls meet on June 3 to review J&K security situation

Amid the spate of civilian killings in the Kashmir Valley, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has called a high-level meeting on June 3 to review the security situation in the Union Territory. Apart from top security officials, J&K LG Manoj Sinha will also attend the meeting.

Only two weeks ago, Shah had held a meeting to review the arrangements for Amarnath Yatra and the overall security situation in Jammu and Kashmir. This year, Kashmir Valley has witnessed at least 16 targeted killings, including of police officials, teachers and sarpanches.

The episodes of targeted killings spiked after February 2021, when the son of the proprietor of Krishna Dhaba in Srinagar was shot at inside his restaurant. He succumbed to the gunshot injuries at a hospital two days later.

On October 5, 2021,



prominent chemist M L Bindroo was shot dead in his shop, followed by killings of school principal Supinder Kour and teacher Deepak Chand in Sangam.

Last year, 182 militants and at least 35 civilians were killed in the Valley. In at least three cases, labourers from outside J&K were shot at and injured.

The most recent civilian killings were those of a Kashmiri Pandit government employee in Budgam, a female TV artiste in Budgam, and a woman school teacher in Kulgam. The killings have been attributed by the J&K Police to “hybrid terrorists” who are essentially overground workers of Pakistan-based terror groups and use small arms to target defenceless civilians. Security forces have been grappling with the challenge of this new phenomenon in the Valley as identifying them is difficult.