A day after the surgical strikes at terror launch pads in PoK by the Special Forces commandos, the security and intelligence top brass of the country analysed the prevailing scenario on Friday in a meeting chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh. Subsequently, all States were put on high alert.
During the hour-long meeting, strategies were worked out to foil any Pakistani design to attack BSF posts besides ensuring safety of the civilian population living in forward areas. The meeting also decided to communicate to all States to be on high alert in all metro cities across the country to tackle the sleeper cells of jehadi outfits.
The Home Minister instructed the officials to ensure that the forces posted along the border remain on alert as the situation along the Indo-Pak border continues to be volatile after Thursday’s strike by Army, official sources said.
Those who attended the meeting included National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi and top officials of security and intelligence agencies.
The BSF, which comes under the Home Ministry, has already put all its units along the Indo-Pak border on “high alert”.
Orders have been issued to all its units along IB in Jammu, Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat to step up vigil and bolster their numbers at the posts by bringing in all personnel who are in the reserve. BSF has also restricted all civilian movement along borders with Pakistan. The border guarding force has also been asked by the Home Ministry to provide manpower to local administration for helping in evacuating people from border villages to safer locations.
Soon after the meeting, MHA issued a country-wide alert asking the States to heighten vigil to foil any attempt by Pakistan-based terror groups to carry out attacks amid apprehensions of backlash by terrorists after the surgical strike.
In an advisory, the Home Ministry conveyed to the States that additional forces should be deployed in all sensitive places, strategic installations, markets, religious places and other key places to ensure security, an official source said. Metro cities were particularly asked to be extra vigilant. States sharing the border with Pakistan — Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat — were also directed to remain vigilant, said MHA officials.