Amit Shah lays foundation stone of 'Balidan Stambh' in Srinagar

The memorial, a project under the Srinagar Smart City, is a tribute to the martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the nation, the officials said.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah aturday laid the foundation stone for ‘Balidan Stambh’ (martyr's memorial) at Partap Park in Srinagar.

Shah, who is on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, laid the foundation stone at the park near the city centre Lal Chowk - the commercial hub of Srinagar city. The memorial, a project under the Srinagar Smart City, is a tribute to the martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the nation.

Earlier in the morning, he visited Baltal to take stock of the preparedness for the upcoming Amarnath Yatra, scheduled to begin from July 1. On Friday evening, the Home Minister laid foundation stones for various developmental projects and inaugurated the ‘Vitasta festival’.

Shah also chaired a security review meeting in the city last evening, where sources said, he was given a brief on the prevailing security situation and security plan to be put in place for the Amarnath Yatra

“The Home Minister directed the security agencies to make some last minute changes to the plan to ensure fool-proof cover the pilgrims,” a source privy to the meeting said and added that special focus of this year’s yatra will be quick response teams (QRTs) of security agencies in case of natural calamities like cloudburst.

On the security situation, the Home Minister reportedly praised the security agencies for ensuring a peaceful atmosphere in Kashmir and eliminating a large number of terrorists since the abrogation of Article 370.

“He also hailed the synergy among security agencies and hoped that the remaining miniscule number of active terrorists will also be killed shortly,” the source said, adding that “the Home Minister also expressed satisfaction on zero local militant recruitment.”

Shah, the sources said, called for a war against narco-terror and urged the security top brass to widen the net to prevent intrusion of narcotics into J&K from across.

While stringent security arrangements had been put in place for the Home Minister’s visit to Srinagar, traffic was briefly stopped at some stretches in Srinagar for a brief time where the Home Minister had to pass.

The Home Minister arrived on a two-day visit to J&K on Friday. He addressed a rally in Jammu yesterday and also addressed a gathering at Raj Bhawan in Srinagar.

This is the second visit of the Home Minister to J&K this year. On January 13, he had visited Jammu following the Dhangri terror attack in Rajouri in which seven civilians were killed by the terrorists on New Year. The attackers remain at large despite a massive counter-terrorist operation by security forces.

Prior to it, he had visited J&K in October 2022, when he had inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of 263 development projects worth Rs 1960 cr in Jammu.