Author: Pranab Dhal Samanta
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: August 28, 2008
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/story/354210.html
Introduction: J&K State of Deadlock
The Centre is deeply worried about the security
of the Hindu community in the Valley after intelligence reports of militant
outfits planning to target them to create communal unrest.
Based on these reports, National Security
Advisor M K Narayanan met members of the Hindu Welfare Society during his
recent visit to Srinagar and asked the state to intensify security in areas
inhabited by the Hindus. The matter was also discussed in a meeting of the
Cabinet Committee on Security, which met on Wednesday to take stock of the
situation in the state.
The concern grew after a detailed report from
the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) was submitted to the PMO recently. The
report, based largely on communication intercepts, stated that Mushtaq Ahmed
Zargar, one of the terrorists released after the IC-814 hijack and now heading
an outfit called Al Umar Mujahideen, has issued instructions to target Hindus
in the Valley, government buildings and public property.
Similarly, the agency has shared specific
inputs about the Hizbul Mujahideen leadership issuing instructions to target
Hindus in Kishtwar. The RAW has conveyed that the Sikh community too may be
under threat from Hizbul cadres. It has also received information that Lashkar-e-Toiba
has strengthened its presence outside the Valley in Rajouri and has apparently
carried out reconnaissance operations to attack local Hindu religious sites.
While law-enforcement authorities are corroborating this information on the
ground, the Centre has made it clear that there should be no let-up in increasing
security for minority groups.
While the Centre has decided to come down
hard on extremist elements in the Valley, there is also a view here that the
government must act with equal resolve when it comes to Hindu extremist elements
in Jammu so that there is little chance of a communal fallout in the state.