The Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) administration will be deploying drones to monitor the areas in the valley having a population of minority communities.

This call has been taken in the wake of the recent targeted killings and attacks on minorities, mostly Hindus, in Kashmir.

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the local police have ramped up aerial surveillance in minority-dominant areas like Srinagar and Lal Chowk.

These drones were tested at the Pratap Park area Srinagar by the police and the CRPF.

These measures have been taken ahead of Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s first visit to the union territory since the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019.

“The step has been taken in the wake of recent attacks on the minority community members and migrant labourers,” deputy inspector general of CRPF (operations) Mathew A John confirmed to the Times of India (TOI).

About 11 individuals, mainly minorities and migrants, have been killed in a fresh round of attacks in the union territory in a previous couple of weeks.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has also been roped in to investigate around four cases of civilian killings, including those of Srinagar pharmacist M L Bindroo, Bihari vendor Virendra Paswan, Bihari labourers Joginder Reshi Dev and Raja Reshi Dev, school teacher Deepak Chand and Sikh school principal Supinder Kaur.

In the Kashmir division of the Union Territory, Muslims form the predominant majority with 96.41 per cent of the population. Hindus with 2.45 per cent and Sikhs with 0.81 per cent of the population constitute minority communities of the valley.