Go after terror funding suspects in J&K, Amit Shah tells agencies

Srinagar: Union Home Minister Amit Shah has told investigative agencies to go after all those who are involved in terror funding in Jammu and Kashmir. Shah said this during his maiden two-day visit to the state. Reports said that Shah told security agencies that there would be no tolerance for terror and asked them not to be lax with security arrangements for the Amarnath Yatra scheduled to start from 1 July 2019.

Shah presided over a high-level security meeting which was attended by Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik. Shah was briefed by officials about all the arrangements for the yatra and also about the security cover provided for the yatra pilgrims. Shah has told the security agencies to remain vigilant on the entire yatra route, amid media reports that there is an intelligence input from Ganderbal district that there were some meetings held by terrorists in the forests of Kangan. The yatra has one of the routes from Kangan, as it has a base camp at Baltal in Sonamarg in the Ganderbal district. Shah was told by officials that there would be a constant surveillance through CCTV cameras at vantage points along the yatra.

Informed sources said that Shah has told Governor Malik to gear up the state administration so that there is visible change on the developmental scenario in the state. He has assured the state government that the Centre will release funds, delayed for years together, for all the pending projects in the state.

Soon after Shah’s visit, the Income Tax department, along with the state Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), raided dozens of places in Jammu and Srinagar in the course of investigating a huge financial fraud having links to Dubai, in which the son of former state Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather is involved. Similarly, the state ACB has registered several cases connected with many financial frauds in Kashmir and have even arrested several persons.

A senior police officer told The Sunday Guardian that they have divided the national highway from Lakhanpur of Jammu into four zones and each zone would be supervised by a senior officer of the police. He said that on the highway, they have created special drop-gates or barriers and set up mobile Quick Reaction Teams to secure the route of the pilgrims right from Jammu upto Anantnag district of south Kashmir.

Apart from Amit Shah, even the Northern Army Commander Lt. Gen. Ranbir Singh also went to different spots and discussed deployments for the Amarnath yatra before he held a meeting for the final arrangements from the twin routes of Baltal and Pahalgam.