Inter-Agency Coordination Committee Set Up Ahead Of Amarnath Yatra

New Delhi: Following direction from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the central security agencies have set up an inter-agency coordination committee to ensure the safety and security of pilgrims during the Amarnath Yatra scheduled to start on July 3.

A recent meeting in the home ministry discussed in detail the security arrangements during the Amarnath yatra. The meeting, chaired by home secretary Govind Mohan and attended by several top officials of central security agencies, also discussed the fact that the culprits of the Pahalgam attack are still at large.

"The terrorists who carried out the dastardly attack on civilians at Pahalgam are still at large, and this has become a major concern for the security agencies,” said an official from the central security agency privy to the development.

The meeting, according to the official, asked all the central armed police force, other security and intelligence agencies to work in tandem and share real-time intelligence inputs with each other.

“Sharing of intelligence inputs always proved to be a major factor in any anti-terror operation,” the official said. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, during the last several meetings, asked all the central security agencies to share intelligence inputs.

The border guarding agencies have also been asked to keep a strict vigil on the movements of all activities along the India-Pakistan international border. Representatives from all the central security agencies, officials from the central armed police force, and intelligence officials from the Jammu and Kashmir police have been included in the inter-agency coordination committee, which will mainly be operated from the union home ministry.

Quoting an intelligence report, the official said that after India came to an understanding over a ceasefire, terrorist organisations made several attempts to infiltrate terrorists into India. “Our alert BSF jawans foiled most of the infiltration attempts of the Pakistan-backed terrorist organisations,” the official said.

On Thursday, the home ministry assigned 581 companies of central paramilitary forces for the security of the holy yatra. Following a request from the Jammu & Kashmir administration, the home ministry has approved the deployment of an additional 425 companies of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) to bolster the security grid during the period of the Amarnath Yatra scheduled to start from July 3 till August 9.

The additional companies have been sanctioned in addition to the already present 156 companies of CAPF in J&K. The newly deployed companies from the paramilitary forces include CRPF (128, including five Mahila Coys), BSF (130), CISF (45), ITBP (55) and SSB (67).

"Ensuring the safety and security of the pilgrims is a major task assigned to the central security forces. This time, it assumes much more significance following the fact that India carried out Operation Sindoor, striking the terror bases in Pakistan Occupied J&K and Pakistan,” said a senior official from the CRPF to this correspondent.

Meanwhile, Amit Shah, currently on a two-day-long official visit to Jammu and Kashmir, met the officials of the unified command and reviewed the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir and arrangements for the annual Amarnath Yatra.

The meeting was attended by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, Army Chief Gen Upendra Dwivedi, the union home secretary Govind Mohan, intelligence bureau chief Tapan Deka, chief secretary Atal Dulloo, and heads of various paramilitary forces, police, and intelligence agencies.

Talking to ETV Bharat, former director general of BSF, Prakash Singh said that the visit of home minister Amit Shah to J&K assumes great significance, especially after Operation Sindoor.

“The visit of the home minister has conveyed a message that the government of India always looks after the safety and security of its people. Visiting J&K ahead of the Amarnath Yatra gives indication that the issue of safety and security of the pilgrims is being looked after by the top level in the government of India,” said Singh. Singh said that Shah’s visit also boosted the morale of the security forces deployed in Jammu and Kashmir.