Jammu: Union Home Minister Amit Shah chaired a high-level meeting here on Thursday night to review the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir and arrangements for the annual Amarnath Yatra, officials said.
Shah arrived here this evening amid tight security, his first visit to the Union Territory after Operation Sindoor, they said.
During his two-day stay in the Jammu region, the home minister will visit Poonch to meet people affected by Pakistani shelling.
Shah will also visit religious places and meet BSF personnel in the Poonch district, which recorded the highest number of civilian fatalities — 14 out of the total 28 deaths — during Pakistani shelling and drone attacks between May 7 and 10, the officials said.
Soon after his arrival at Raj Bhawan, Shah chaired a high-level security meeting to review the overall situation and anti-terror operations in Jammu and Kashmir, the officials said.
The home minister also reviewed security and other arrangements for the annual Amarnath Yatra, which begins on July 3 this year. He was briefed about the security measures for the yatra.
The meeting was attended by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, Army Chief Gen Upendra Dwivedi, the Union home secretary, Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo, and heads of various paramilitary forces, police, and intelligence agencies.
Earlier, Shah was received at the airport here by LG Sinha, Union minister Jitendra Singh, Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Kumar Choudhary, Chief Secretary Dulloo, and senior BJP leaders.
The LG presented him with a picture of Mata Vaishno Devi.
After an overnight stay in Jammu, Shah will fly to Poonch on Friday to interact with families affected by Pakistani shelling.
He will also visit damaged religious places, including Singh Sabha Gurdwara, and hold a meeting with officers to assess the damage in the worst-hit district, the officials said.
The home minister will also visit the Border Security Force (BSF) camp in Poonch and interact with the jawans.
He will address civilians affected by Pakistani shelling at Dak Bungalow in Poonch and BSF personnel at their unit headquarters in Khanetar.
He is likely to distribute appointment letters to the next of kin of civilians killed in the shelling before returning to Delhi, the officials said.
This is the home minister’s third visit to J and K since April 6, and the first after Indian armed forces struck terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on May 7 in retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack that left 26 people, mostly tourists, dead.
After a three-day tour beginning April 6, Shah had again visited Kashmir on April 23, a day after the Pahalgam attack.
