J&K CM meets Rajnath over security situation in state

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh here on Wednesday and briefed him on, among other things, the security situation in the state.

Informed sources said that she advocated the need for talks with separatist to end the cycle of violence in the Valley, apart from talking about militant violence, infiltration and cross-border firing that had significantly increased over the past couple of months.

Both also discussed the probable names for governorship of Jammu and Kashmir when incumbent N.N. Vohra's term end in June, the sources said.

During the half-an-hour meeting, Mehbooba Mufti briefed Rajnath Singh on the horrific rape-cum-murder of an eight-year-old girl from the minority community in Kathua which outraged people across the country.

She pointed out how some Bharatiya Janata Party Ministers were backing lawyers and protesters who hit the streets in Jammu and Kashmir in defence of the crime accused.

The meeting comes in the wake of growing demands for a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the rape-murder case.

--IANS

rak/tsb/vd