Home Secy holds meeting with Chief Secretaries of border states

Amid ceasefire violations by Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and also Gujarat, Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan held a meeting with Chief Secretaries of the states sharing border with Pakistan, via video-conferencing.

Sources said Mohan spoke to Chief Secretaries of Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat as well as the union territory of J&K, directing them to keep all civil defence infrastructure in readiness and maintain vigil across cities and towns close to the border through local police.

The Union Home Secretary is learnt to have directed the Chief Secretaries to ensure that there is no unnecessary panic among people and all night alert drills and blackouts were carried out on a regular basis, once inputs are received to do so.

Earlier just hours after India and Pakistan had reached an understanding on a ceasefire agreement, Pakistan violated the understanding by launching attacks in Jammu, Punjab and Gujarat.

In a statement at around 11 pm, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said, "Over the past three hours, there have been repeated violations of the understanding arrived at earlier this evening between the Directors General of Military Operations of India and Pakistan. This is a breach of the understanding arrived at earlier today. The armed forces are giving an adequate and appropriate response to these violations and we take very, very serious notice of these violations."