New Delhi: With Parliamentary elections round the corner and expected jockeying for leverage by political parties, Armed Forces have been told to "tread carefully" in conducting anti-militancy operations in Jammu and Kashmir.

Army Chief Gen NC Vij today (Feb 26, 2004) chaired a meeting of the top Army commanders where a directive was issued to the security forces to adopt a humanitarian approach during their ongoing anti-militancy drive, Army officials said.

The security forces have been told not to put into inconvenience common people in the conduct of special operations, even as officials maintained that no quarter would be given to Pakistani mercenaries operating in the State.

At the conference, which Army officials termed was a "routine one" to deal with promotions of officers of the level of Major Generals and Lt Generals, Vij briefed the top commanders on the deliberations of the recent high-level meeting on Jammu and Kashmir chaired by Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani earlier this month.

The Army Chief had called the Corps Commanders of the Srinagar-based 15 Corps, Lt Gen Nribhay Sharma, Nagrota-based 16 Corps, Lt Gen Ashok Kapur, and the Northern Army Commander Lt Gen Hari Prasad to assess the situation in the State.