Home Minister Amit Shah has convened a high-level meeting tomorrow to review the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir in the wake of targeted killings of Kashmiri Pandits and other civilians.

The meeting will be attended by Lt Governor of Jammu and Kashmir Manoj Sinha, Chief of Army Staff Manoj Pande, and Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla. The Government can decide on tough measures, considering the situation.

This will be the second meeting on the Kashmir situation in the past fortnight. The Home Minister had taken a separate review of preparations for the Amarnath Yatra also.

Though tomorrow’s meeting is being described officially as a regular review of the security situation, the convening of a meeting in a fortnight or so is significant.

The recent killings of a female TV artiste of Budgam and a woman teacher in Kulgam, along with other fatal attacks on civilians had already shocked the Kashmiri Pandits and the Government. The shooting down of a bank manager from Rajasthan today has created more alarm.

Seeking safer locations for their recent jobs, the Kashmiri Pandits are talking of leaving the Valley en masse unless a mechanism is devised for their total protection.

The situation has cast a heavy burden on the Union Home Ministry which is to provide fool-proof arrangements for the coming Amarnath Yatra from 30 June.

The Yatra is being resumed after two years due to Covid. The Modi Government is keen that the Yatra should be hassle-free for the pilgrims. The Yatra involves massive arrangements for lodging, communications, health, electricity, and water supplies.

The association of the Army Chief and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval with deliberations on the security situation shows the serious threat posed to peace by the terrorists.

As a Union Territory, Jammu and Kashmir’s administration is a mandate of the Home Ministry. As per the latest data, the number of terrorists killed in 2019 was 157 and in 2020, it rose to 221. The number of civilians killed was 39 and 37 in 2019 and 2020, respectively.

The recent killings of civilians in different districts have been targeted and meant to create fear among the Pandits.