Taking serious note of increased infiltration bids from across the line of Control (loC), including the Keran sector, the Defence Ministry has taken up the issue with the Army and discussed its operational preparedness to meet the challenge.
Defence Minister AK Antony, who is recuperating in the Army Hospital after a prostrate surgery, is regularly briefed by Defence Secretary RK Mathur about the situation on the loC. Moreover, Army Chief General Bikram Singh also updated the Minister when Singh called on him in the Hospital on Wednesday. Antony is likely to hold a full-fledged review meeting with the three Service chiefs next week once he resumes office.
Officials said on Thursday, Keran sector bid and Samba incident in Jammu region where the militants, dressed in Army fatigues, stormed into an officers’ mess on September 26 and killed the second in-command and two jawans besides seriously injuring the commanding officer, were reviewed by the Defence Ministry and Army brass.
Stating that the Defence Ministry has a mechanism built within the system to discuss any major incident, they said all issues, including lapses if any, by the Army during the Keran sector encounter will be thoroughly reviewed in the coming days.
The Ministry is also awaiting outcome of an internal probe by the Army into the Samba incident where the militants managed to drive unchecked for more than 30 minutes on the Jammu National Highway after attacking a police post killing seven policemen. They later targeted the officers’ mess and in the ensuing firefight three militants were killed.
Meanwhile, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde admitted on Thursday that “some lapses” were there in dealing with the September 26 Jammu fidayeen attack and said an enquiry is on to fix the responsibilities of various security agencies and also suggest corrective steps.
“Some lapses were there... An inquiry is on. We had information about possible infiltration attempts in the entire belt (India-Pakistan border along Jammu sector). We are making corrections based on our experience...,” Shinde said.
He said the Home Ministry has sought a report from the J&K Government on the possible lapses with regard to the incident. Shinde also said Border Security Force (BSF) and the Army are also inquiring into
the incident.