Doval chairs meeting on Kashmir

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval chaired a high-level meeting Thursday to discuss issues concerning Kashmir, including the forthcoming Amarnath Yatra and pending Assembly election, officials said.

The meeting was attended by Vijay Kumar, Advisor to the Jammu and Kashmir Governor, State Chief Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat, Director General of CRPF R R Bhatnagar and Director General of Police Dilbag Singh, they said.

This is the first meeting of Doval on Kashmir after assuming the charge of National Security Advisor for a second term on June 2.

During the meeting, the prevailing security situation in Kashmir was reviewed, especially in view of the annual Amarnath Yatra which begins on July 1 this year, they said.

The meeting comes days after the Election Commission made an announcement that polls to the state Assembly will be held after the Amarnath Yatra, they said.

In a statement, the poll panel had said it unanimously decided that "holding of assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir shall be considered later in this year".

Rejecting the concerns of security expressed by state officials, the Election Commission was of the view that if the Lok Sabha polls could be held, there should be no issue in holding the elections to the state Assembly.

Jammu and Kashmir does not have an elected dispensation since the PDP-BJP coalition government fell in June 2018.

The state is under the President's rule which will expire on June 19 after which the Centre is likely to extend it by another six months.

While no dates of elections have been announced, officials privy to the development feel that the elections are likely to take place sometime in November this year.