Rajnath reviews situation in Darjeeling, Kashmir

As violence continued unabated in Darjeeling, Home Minister Rajnath Singh tonight reviewed the security situation in the hill district of West Bengal.

He also took stock of the situation in Kashmir, where terrorists ambushed a police party on the outskirts of Anantnag district of South Kashmir today, killing six policemen.

Earlier today, the Union home ministry put on hold sending more troops to Darjeeling to help restore normalcy as the state government had not yet submitted its report on the situation.

The meeting came a day after a team of the BJP and the Gorkha Janmukti Morch, which is leading the protests in Darjeeling, met the home minister seeking the Centre's intervention.

During the meeting, the home minister was briefed on the law and order situation in Darjeeling, official sources said.

Singh has been told the West Bengal government has not yet sent a report about the situation in Darjeeling.

Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi and other top security officials attended the hour-long meeting.
Around 1,000 central paramilitary personnel, including 200 women, had earlier been deployed in Darjeeling to assist the local administration.

Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) general secretary Roshan Giri, accompanied by BJP MP from Darjeeling S S Ahluwalia, had met the home minister yesterday and sought the Centre's intervention to restore peace in the hill district and "foil" the West Bengal government's attempt to make Bengali language mandatory in schools in the hills.

The GJM, an ally of the Centre's ruling NDA, has intensified its agitation for a separate Gorkhaland state.