By IANS,
Jammu : Home Minister P. Chidambaram began a high-level meeting here Wednesday to review the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir ahead of the five-phase Lok Sabha polls.
He is chairing the meet, which is being attended by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and other top government functionaries. This is Chidambaram’s first visit to trouble-torn Jammu and Kashmir after he became home minister.
The home minister will later chair a meeting with the Unified Command, which is the top security body for coordinating the operations of different security wings. This will be attended by Chief Minister Abdullah and top army, police, paramilitary and civil officials.
In the security review meeting, the minister will try to get a clear assessment of the situation in the state where general elections will be held April 16-May 13 and which has seen an insurgency since 1989.
Security officials have prepared an assessment of the situation, both on account of instability in neighbouring Pakistan and the frustration of separatist and militant outfits over the large participation of people in the November-December assembly elections.
More than 61 percent of the electorate had participated in the assembly elections. This was seen as a setback to separatists and militant outfits who had given a poll boycott call.