Kashmir unrest: Rajnath Singh chairs high-level meet at MHA

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday chaired a high-level meeting at the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to discuss the present situation in violence-hit Jammu and Kashmir.

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, the Home Secretary and the Director of the Intelligence Bureau were also present in the meeting.

This high-level meeting on Kashmir comes in the wake of cross border infiltration attempts in Kashmir on Independence Day in which a CRPF jawan was killed.

It also comes a day after Pakistani Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry invited his Indian counterpart S Jai Shankar to visit Islamabad for a dialogue on Kashmir even as New Delhi had last week rejected Foreign Affairs Adviser to Pakistani Prime Minister Sartaj Aziz's statement that his country has planned to invite the Indian Foreign Secretary for peace talks on Kashmir.

Meanwhile, four more protestors were this morning killed by the security forces in central Kashmir's Budgam district, taking the death toll in the valley to 64.

Curfew and separatist shutdown continued in Kashmir today for the 39th consecutive day.

All educational institutions, shops, public transport and other businesses have remained shut since July 9, a day after Wani was killed. However, banks, post offices, and government offices have been functioning during this period.

Several thousand people have been injured in the clashes that began on July 9.