AGENCY
New Delhi: Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Fridnight reviewed the situation along the Indo-Pak border in Jammu and Kashmir where BSF shot dead seven Pakistan Rangers and a terrorist while retaliating to a ceasefire violation.
On receiving the news, the Home Minister, who was in Mumbai, called up Director General, BSF, K K Sharma and took stock of the situation along the International Border in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district, officials said.
Senior Home Ministry officials are also in regular touch with BSF officials and monitoring the situation along the border, they said.
The Home Minister earlier had said that BSF should not fire the first shot towards Pakistan but if fired upon by Pakistani forces, BSF should not count the bullets and retaliate forcefully.
Earlier in Mumbai, Home Minister said the western coast of India, which is economically most developed, is vulnerable to terrorist strikes.
Addressing the meeting of Western Zonal Council, the Home Minister said there was a need for better centre-state coordination for ensuring foolproof coastal security in the country.
“The west coast of India, while being among economically most developed, is vulnerable to terrorist strikes,” he said.
The meeting was chaired by Singh and attended by Chief Ministers and administrators of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa and Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
The Home Minister said in the light of the prevailing security environment, it is central government’s priority to bolster coastal security through a series of measures, including modernisation of police forces, better surveillance and acquisition of modern equipment and assets.
The Council reviewed issues relating to coastal security, internal security, issuance of bio-metric identity cards to fishermen and issue of card readers, formulation of plans for countering terrorism, modernisation of police force etc, an official release said.
