Home Minister arriving on crucial 3-day J&K visit

Jammu, Apr 5: Union Home Minister Amit Shah is arriving in Jammu tomorrow evening on his three-day J&K visit, amid a string of developments unfolding – both on the political as well as security front.

According to highly placed sources, the Union Home Minister, as per his tentative itinerary, is likely to reach Jammu at around 6 pm or so on Sunday (April 6) and will straightway head to Raj Bhawan.

After a brief stopover at the Raj Bhawan, his major and probably only engagement on April 6 evening will be at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) office at 7 pm or so at Trikuta Nagar where he is scheduled to interact with the party legislators and a handful of core group members, including three party MPs and J&K BJP president, for an hour or two.

The significance of his visit to the party office on the very first day of his schedule will be on two counts – one, it will coincide with the Foundation Day of the BJP which is on April 6, which incidentally falls on the auspicious occasion of Ram Navmi.

Secondly, it (interaction) will be on the eve of the resumption of the budget session of the J&K Legislative Assembly after a 12-day long recess period.

The session, resuming on April 7 and lasting till April 9, is all likely to be tumultuous in the wake of recent strain in the relations between Raj Bhawan and the NC-led alliance government over the JKAS officers’ transfer issue.

The J&K BJP unit too has actively joined the issue, which has already reached the doorstep of the Union Home Minister, supposedly “in writing” (by the Chief Minister).

NC and alliance partners in their recent meeting have already dropped hints to adopt a hard stance over transfer, dual power structure and other related issues, eliciting oblique responses from Raj Bhawan as well.

Facing barbs from political opponents, NC and allies have indicated that the issues will figure in the session, which will also see resolutions seeking statehood and other prickly issues.

In such a politically hot scenario, the party legislators getting an opportunity of direct interaction with one of the two topmost leaders of the BJP, perceived as “Chanakya” is being seen as an added advantage ahead of the session.

From the party office, the Union Home Minister will return to Raj Bhawan for night-halt.

On April 7 morning, his itinerary includes a visit to Border Security Force (BSF) BOP Vinay at 10:30 am in Kathua where he is likely to have a meticulous assessment of operational preparedness along the borders and efficacy of the anti-infiltration grid with the top brass of BSF and other paramilitary forces engaged in anti-terrorist operations.

From there, he will return to Raj Bhawan, Jammu where he is, at 2 pm, scheduled to meet the families of the police personnel recently martyred in the Kathua encounter and distribute the appointment letters to the Next of Kin of the security personnel, who lost their lives in the line of duty, on compassionate grounds under SRO 43.

On April 7, his last major engagement in Jammu may be a visit to the residence of the Leader of Opposition Sunil Kumar Sharma in Gandhi Nagar, for likely tête-à-tête on political developments, in the evening near Shiva temple, where he may pay obeisance also, before proceeding to Srinagar for the next leg of his visit.

Following the night halt at Raj Bhawan, Srinagar, his major engagements on April 8 morning will be the review of ongoing development projects in J&K, including the execution of Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSSs) at 11 am.

This will be followed by a high-level review meeting vis-à-vis J&K security at 1 pm, to be attended by the Union Home Secretary and other senior officers of Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), top brass of intelligence agencies and central paramilitary forces.

Security review meetings may be spread in two parts – including Unified Headquarters, focused on synergized anti-terrorist operations ensuring a 360-degree security grid.

Security preparedness related to Amarnath Yatra and the inauguration of “Train to Kashmir” (scheduled for the third week of April by the Prime Minister) may form the agenda of the second meeting.

The venue for all these engagements will be Raj Bhawan.

Union Home Minister may inaugurate or lay the foundation stone of some specified development projects also virtually from the Raj Bhawan. This engagement may see the presence of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah as well.

The Home Minister’s one-on-one meeting with the Chief Minister too may form part of his itinerary.

Shah will return to the union capital on April 8 afternoon.

Multi-layer security arrangements are in place across Jammu, particularly in and around those places, which form the venues of Union Home Minister’s engagements.