Parrikar to visit LoC, review security situation

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar arrived in Jammu on Saturday to review the overall security situation in the region and visit some forward areas on the Line of Control (LoC).

A special plane carrying the defence minister landed at Jammu airport on Saturday morning.

Accompanied by Indian Army chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag and GOC of the northern command Lieutenant General D.S. Hooda, Parrikar went to the Nagrota headquarters of 16th Corps.

Defence sources told IANS in Jammu that Parrikar reviewed the overall situation on the LoC and the anti-militancy operations by the army in Jammu region and Lieutenant General K.H. Singh GOC of 16th corps briefed the minister at the corps headquarters at Nagrota.

"The defence minister is visiting some forward positions on the LoC in Bhimber Gali sector of Poonch district today (Saturday)," a defence source said.

Before concluding his two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, Parrikar will pay obeisance at the Mata Vaishnoo Devi Shrine in the evening.

The defence minister on Friday visited the Siachen Glacier in the Ladakh region where he addressed soldiers and officers guarding the country's frontiers at the world's highest and toughest battlefield.

Parrikar also discussed the overall security situation in the state with Jammu and Kashmir Governor N.N. Vohra and Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed in Srinagar on Friday.

The defence minister also visited the Badami Bagh headquarters of the army's 15th Corps in Srinagar where he reviewed the security situation in the Kashmir valley with field commanders led by lieutenant General Subrata Saha, GOC of 15 Corps.