AK Antony concludes Kashmir visit

Defence Minister AK Antony on Sunday wound up his two-day security review trip to Kashmir with a visit to forward Army posts along the Line of Control (LoC) in Tangdhar sector of Kupwara district.

Antony, who is accompanied by Chief of Army Staff General Bikram Singh and Defence Secretary Shashikant Sharma, visited the forward posts along the LoC in Tangdhar sector this morning, defence sources said.

They said the Defence minister was briefed about the prevailing security scenario along the LoC in Tangdhar sector and the counter-infiltration measures put in place by the Army.

Tangdhar had emerged as a favoured infiltration route for militants last year as many bids were foiled by the army. However, this year, the level of infiltration bids from this sector have come down substantially.

Later, Antony flew back to Delhi along with his entourage.

During his two-day stay in the Valley, the Defence Minister held a series of meetings to review the security scenario in Kashmir.

Chairing the Unified Headquarters meeting yesterday, he said the "visibility" of troops should be reduced as much as possible in the state without compromising efficacy.

Antony also asked security forces and intelligence agencies to enhance their coordination to thwart enemy attempts to disturb peace in the border state.

The Defence Minister, who visited Jammu and Kashmir after a gap of 18 months, also met Governor NN Vohra, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and senior officials of the security grid here.