The names of a recently retired Army Chief and at least two more retired Lieutenant Generals who served in Kashmir not very long back have been shortlisted after consultations with Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, government sources told DNA.
The Centre is keen to appoint a former Army General as Governor of Jammu and Kashmir to succeed incumbent NN Vohra whose two-term tenure lasting a decade comes to an end in June.
The names of a recently retired Army Chief and at least two more retired Lieutenant Generals who served in Kashmir not very long back have been shortlisted after consultations with Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, government sources told DNA.
"A decision has not been taken yet and consultations for a final name are on," a government source said.
Mufti was initially reluctant to have a former Army officer as Governor and wanted a political personality.
She was not happy with the political names, saying their proximity to RSS could complicate the situation in the state where violence has escalated in the last three years, sources said.
She is learnt to have agreed to a former Army General being given the coveted job because there was no consensus between the state and the Centre on a political candidate.
Sources said the breakdown of communication between the civil administration and the Army has prompted the government to appoint a former General who has experience of serving in the state and understands its complexities.
There has been a massive influx of youth joining terror groups and outnumbering Pakistani terrorists.
The number of local youth joining terror ranks rose to 128 in 2017, a ten-time increase in the last five years as the number was only 13 in 2013.
Since then, the number of local recruits has been increasing — in 2014, 63 locals joined terror groups, 83 in 2015 and 84 in 2016.
According to official estimates, there are 358 terrorists active in Kashmir and close to 300 are local Kashmiri youth.
The beginning to 2018 has been tense with over ceasefire violations reported at the LoC. The situation is alarming because it has already gone past the half way mark of last year's tally. In 2017 there were 860 ceasefire violations — a four-time increase from 2016.
Earlier the NDA government appointed former chief of the Intelligence Bureau, Dineshwar Sharma, as a special representative to initiate a dialogue to usher in peace in the Valley.
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