NSA Doval heads to Kashmir for a situation review

NEW DELHI: National security adviser Ajit Doval will leave for the Kashmir Valley on Tuesday to assess the security situation and devise strategy with the Mufti Mohammad Sayeed government on checking radicalisation of youth.

Government sources said Doval will meet governor NN Vohra, chief minister Sayeed, and Army and para-military force commanders during his two-day visit to understand the state of cross-border infiltration and terrorism in the Valley.

The visit will also help Doval to formulate India’s response during talks on terrorism with his Pakistan counterpart Sartaj Aziz, likely in New Delhi next month. The meetings between the two NSAs, Directors-General of the Border Security Force and Pakistan Rangers as well as the two Directors-General of Military Operations (DGMOs) are expected to be reviewed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly session in New York in late September. While Doval is keen to discuss terrorism with his Pakistani counterpart, his immediate concern is growing attraction of Kashmiri youth towards Islamic State (IS) ideology over the Internet. There are strong reports about internal recruitment in the Valley with the youth taking to militancy in the name of religion and not freedom. “The romanticism of IS over Internet has affected the University studying youth and could lead to political violence in the future,” said a senior official.

It is understood that Doval will discuss strategy on countering Islamic radicalisation with Sayeed but at the same time emphasise good governance by the PDP-BJP government.