Mehbooba Mufti reviews situation with top officials

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday evening closeted with top officials of the security forces, intelligence agencies and civilian administration in Jammu to review the situation arising out of a deadly terror attack at an Army base in Jammu and Kashmir’s winter capital.

Later the chief minister visited the Army hospital at Satwari in Jammu to meet the the injured. She met all the injured and wished them a speedy recovery.

“The chief minister took stock of the situation at a high-level meeting of officers,” said an official statement. The chief minister, it added, was briefed about the ongoing “flush out operation” at the spot. She also reviewed the overall security situation in the state and along the borders.

According to the statement, the chief minister asked the security agencies to maintain close coordination. She also directed the J&K police and other security agencies to maintain vigil in the state and “ensure that no subversive element is allowed to disturb peace in the state”.

She also dir-ected maintaining strict vigil on vital installations, airports, bus stations and other crowded places.

Condemning the attack, Ms Mufti described it as “an effort by elements inimical to peace to break the developmental pace in the state, thereby putting the common masses to immense trouble”.

She appealed to all sections of society “to stand together in such a sensitive time and defeat the designs of the perpetrators who also want to divide people under different names besides creating chaos in the society and the state”.

She paid rich tributes to the slain Army personnel, praised their valour and sympathised with the bereaved families of soldiers. She also wished the injured soldiers a speedy recovery.

Governor, N.N. Vohra, also expressed serious concern over the attack.

A Raj Bhavan spokesman said that the governor spoke to Lt. Gen. Anbu and conveyed grief over loss of life of a JCO and wished speedy recovery to those injured in the attack.

“He reiterated his advice about the need for an uncompromising audit of all security establishments,” the spokesman said.