Union Home Minister Amit Shah is arriving on a two-day visit to Kashmir on Wednesday.
During his Kashmir tour, Shah will visit cave-shrine ofAmarnath in the Himalayan mountain range in South Kashmir’s Anantnag district,besides chairing a meeting of security grid Srinagar on Wednesday.
On the second day of his visit on Thursday, Shah is scheduledto meet BJP’s core group members, a delegation of sarpanchs and panchs, andseveral other delegations, a source privy to the Home Minister’s itinerary toldGreater Kashmir.
The Home Minister, who was earlier, scheduled to visitKashmir on June 30, decided to advance his trip given his engagements in thewake of presentation of budget in the Parliament.
This will be the first visit by Shah as Home Minister toKashmir, since he was sworn in the newly formed union cabinet led by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi on June 1 in New Delhi.
“Yes, the Home Minister is arriving in Kashmir tomorrow fortwo days,” a security officer said.
“All the necessary security arrangements have been put inplace for his smooth visit. Security grid has been put in alert mode and atight vigil is being maintained on all the crucial road links across Kashmir,especially Srinagar.”
A BJP leader, privy to the Home Minister’s itinerary plan,said that Shah will arrive in Kashmir in the morning and straightaway fly tothe cave-shrine of Amarnath in Pahalgam area of South Kashmir’s Anantnagdistrict. “He will pay obeisance at the cave-shrine that houses theShiva-lingam, perform Darshan and also participate in special Pooja,” theleader said.
He said that Shah will fly to Srinagar after performing theDarshan at the cave-shrine.
A security expert, wishing not to be named said that Shahwill be chairing a high level security meet at SKICC on the banks of Dal lakein Srinagar (on Wednesday afternoon).
“All the heads of various security agencies have beendirected to mark their presence in the meeting. First he will have a detailedreview of the security plan for the Amarnath Yatra commencing on July 1, to befollowed by an overall review of the situation that includes infiltration, anti-militancyoperations, and law and order scenario,” the expert said.
He said the security officials have prepared two power pointpresentations for the Home Minister—one on the security preparedness forAmarnath pilgrimage and the second one on the overall security scenario inKashmir.
According to another BJP leader, on Thursday, the HomeMinister will meet the BJP’s core group members from J&K and exchange ideaswith them.
“He will also meet a joint delegation of Sarpanchs andPanchs and also few delegations of youth and civil society activists,” he said.
“Shah will also meet Governor S P Malik separately.”
The Home Minister, according to a source, is likely toaddress media on Thursday before flying back to New Delhi.