New Delhi,
Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and discussed with him a host of issues concerning the state, including the progress made on the initiatives taken by the Centre’s representative Dineshwar Sharma in holding talks with a cross-section of society.

A senior Ministry of Home Affairs official said during the 20-minute meeting, the two leaders talked about the measures to be taken to bring normalcy in the Valley, which has recently seen a spurt in violence. “They also discussed the initiatives taken by Mr Sharma in holding talks with a wide cross-section of society,” he added.

The CM briefed Rajnath on the prevailing law and order situation and the steps taken to restore peace in the Valley. The situation along the border with Pakistan, which often witnesses attempts of infiltrations by militants and cross-border firings, also came up for discussion, the official added.

The meeting came in the wake of the growing demands for a CBI probe into the Kathua rape-murder case and incidents of militant violence and encounters with security forces.

The two leaders, it is learnt, also deliberated on measures to be taken to ameliorate the misery of the border dwellers and the implementation of the PM’s development package.

According to the data provided to Parliament, 60 incidents of terrorist violence have taken place in J&K from January till mid-March this year, killing 15 security personnel and 17 terrorists. Last week, an officer of the J&K Police was badly injured in a stone-throwing incident in Srinagar.

On Tuesday, the Concerned Citizens Group, including former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha and former chairperson of the National Commission for Minorities Wajahat Habibullah, had said that the violence in the Kashmir valley showed no signs of abating and was, in fact, being stoked by “talk of revenge” and “unrestrained public statements” from various actors.