Amit Shah, LG Sinha to discuss Kashmir situation today

Union Home Minister Amit Shah is likely to hold discussions with Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor (LG) Manoj Sinha on Saturday on the security situation in the union territory in the wake of recent killings.

Sources said at least seven civilians were killed over the past five days. The home minister and the LG are expected to make a detailed review of the prevailing law and order situation.

Top officials of the Union home ministry, intelligence agencies and the Jammu and Kashmir administration are expected to attend the meeting.

Shah has earlier directed officials to ensure that those involved in the killings are nabbed and such incidents do not recur.

The Central government has already dispatched a top official of the Intelligence Bureau to Srinagar to coordinate operations in Kashmir. A woman principal and a teacher were shot dead at point blank range inside a government school in Srinagar on Thursday.

Of the seven killed in the last five days, four were from minority communities and six of the deaths took place in Srinagar.

Supinder Kaur, the principal of the Government Boys Higher Secondary School at Eidgah in Srinagar, and Deepak Chand, were gunned down around 1115 am at the school premises. Makhan Lal Bindroo, a prominent Kashmiri Pandit and owner of Srinagar’s most famous pharmacy, was shot dead at his shop on Tuesday.

A ‘chaat’ vendor, Virendra Paswan from Bihar, and another civilian, Mohammad Shafi Lone, were also killed on Tuesday in Srinagar and in Bandipora respectively .

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Kashmir Monitor staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)