Srinagar, May 27 (IANS) Union Home Minister, Amit Shah is scheduled to reach Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) on a two-day visit from May 29, official sources said here on Tuesday.

HM Shah is scheduled to visit Jammu division on May 29 and May 30.

“He is also likely to visit Poonch border district to meet the families affected by recent Pakistani mortar shelling on civilian facilities”, sources said.

This will be the Union Home Minister’s first visit to J&K after ‘Operation Sindoor’.

HM Shah visited Baisaran meadow in Pahalgam on April 23, a day after Pakistan sponsored and aided terrorists killed 26 innocent people including 25 tourists and one local pony ride operator.

The entire country was outraged by this cowardly attack carried out by terrorists after segregating the civilians on the basis of religion.

The local pony owner, Syed Adil Hussain was killed when the brave young man tried to snatch the rifle of one of the terrorists after arguing with the terrorists that no religion permitted massacre of unarmed, innocent civilians belonging to any religion or faith.

There were protests and spontaneous shutdowns in J&K against the Pahalgam terror attack and the entire population of the Valley, Muslims and people of other religions, stood up with one voice against the terrorists.

The Pahalgam terror attack dealt a death blow to the booming tourism the Valley was witnessing before the carnage.

To avenge the blood of the innocent people, the Indian armed forces carried out precision-guided target-specific attacks on terror infrastructure in Muridke near Lahore, Bahawalpur and Kotli and Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) as part of ‘Operation Sindoor.’

In retaliation, Pakistan resorted to heavy mortar shelling on civilian facilities in J&K and as many as 28 civilians were killed in Pakistani shelling, 13 of them in Poonch district.

The districts of Poonch, Rajouri, Baramulla, Kupwara and Bandipora were the most affected by Pakistani shelling.

The worst damage to civilian lives and infrastructure was suffered in Poonch district.

During his April 23 visit, the Union Home Minister had instructed the military, CAPFs and police to spare no effort in bringing those responsible for the Pahalgam terror attack to justice.

–IANS

sq/rad