Rajnath Singh arrives in Srinagar on two-day J&K visit, drives ATV in Baramulla

Apart from visiting the border areas of the region, he will hold meetings with Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and senior Army officials at the Jawahar Institute of Mountaineering and Winter Sports at Pahalgam.

Srinagar (J&K): Defense Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday arrived on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir. Apart from visiting the border areas of the region, he will hold meetings with Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and senior Army officials at the Jawahar Institute of Mountaineering and Winter Sports at Pahalgam.

"The defence minister went straight from Delhi to Baramulla district of north Kashmir, where he reviewed the situation along the Line of Control (LoC) and held talks with the troops stationed there," a senior army official said. In a video shared on social media, Rajnath Singh was seen driving an ATV (All-Terrain Vehicle) in Baramulla cantonment.

The official further said that the Army Chief Manoj Pandey, GOC Northern Command Lieutenant General Upendra Dwivedi and GOC 15 Corps, Lieutenant General ADS Aujla are present during the defense minister's Baramulla visit. After concluding his visit to Baramula, the Defense Minister will visit the Army's 15th Command Headquarters in Srinagar, where he will be briefed on the situation in the Valley, including the Amarnath Yatra and anti-militancy operations, the official said.

Sharing the schedule of the Defense Minister for Friday, the official said, "Tomorrow morning he will preside over a high-level meeting at the Jawahar Institute of Mountaineering and Winter Sports in Pahalgam. J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and other senior officials of the administration will also attend the meeting."

He further said that after the meeting, the Defense Minister would visit Jammu where he would review the situation in the province and attend the function of Maharaja Gulab Singh's 200th birth anniversary. "He will then be briefed by senior army officers on the supply of weapons to the militants in the province through drones, the rise in infiltration attempts by the militants and details of the countermeasures being taken by the security forces. He will then return to Delhi," the official said.