JAMMU: Jammu and Kashmir governor Girish Saxena said the security along the border will be further tightened and vigil intensified against infiltrations from Pakistan.

A sizeable number of people were waiting across the border to sneak into this state and whip up trouble, Saxena told a press conference at his official residence.

Reacting to some reports, he said he did not see any war hysteria being created in the state.

Commending the role of para military forces, he said they have been working under pressure and suffered several causalities.

Answering a question on the incident of May 21 during Mirwaiz Maulana Farooq’s funeral procession, the governor said it had caused anger in masses and setback to normalisation process. However the people must understand that the government was combating militant outfits, he said.

Referring to the BBC correspondent Yusuf Jameel’s episode, Saxena said in future army would not operate in Srinagar until they take permission from civil authority.

The governor said two army Officers acted without authority or prescribed procedure and higher authority was not in the know of Jameel having been taken for interrogation.

He said the court of inquiry instituted was likely to submit the report within next few days, and appropriate action against those found guilty would be taken.

Replying to another question about 137 government officers who had recently signed a joint document appealing world opinion on alleged excesses in Kashmir, the governor said the government had initiated action and they would be dealt under service conduct rules after verification.

Show cause notices had already been served on those officers, he said.

When his attention was drawn to the role of United Nations observers group in the state, Mr Saxena said their main job was to look after the incidents on the line of actual control. They have no jurisdiction of what was happening inside the state, he said.

Saxena said he wanted to tell Pakistan to see the serious implication of their assistance to the subversives in J and K “India will react to it and our forces which are vigilant on the borders will see to it that they are not taken by surprise,” he said.

The governor said that there will be no letup in the government’s drive against separatists.

Article extracted from this publication >> June 15, 1990