CRPF To Tackle Twin Challenges Of Law & Order Maintenance, Counter-Terror Ops Following Phased Withdrawal Of Army From Hinterland
Srinagar- The government of India is planning phased withdrawal of army from Kashmir Valley except from the Line of Control (LoC), to let the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) to tackle the twin challenges of counter-terror operations and law and order maintenance, a media report from New Delhi said.
Quoting officials in the security establishment, The Indian Express reported on Monday that the proposal to withdraw the Army from Kashmir hinterland has been under discussion for about two years and is at an “advanced stage” now with the involvement of the Union Ministry of Defence, Union Ministry of Home Affairs, armed forces and the J&K police.
According to the report, it has been proposed that the CRPF would fill in for the army personnel removed from the Valley to meet the challenges of both law and order and counter-terror operations.
“The matter is under serious discussion at inter-ministerial level and it is understood to be feasible. In a way, the decision has been taken and it is a matter of when it will be done. Ultimately, however, it will be a political call,” a senior security establishment officer told The Indian Express.
Quoting officials, the report said that the Army maintains a strength of around 1.3 lakh personnel in the entire J&K of which around 80,000 are deployed on the border. About 40,000-45,000 personnel from the Rashtriya Rifles have the mantle of conducting counter-terror operations in Kashmir’s hinterland.
“The CRPF is said to have a strength of close to 60,000 personnel in J&K, of which more than 45,000 are deployed in Kashmir Valley. J&K Police is 83,000 strong. Apart from this, a few companies from other Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) remain deployed in the Valley. The figures for CAPFs fluctuate depending on the security situation in the Valley,” the report said.
Quoting an unnamed Union home ministry official, the report said that the idea behind the deliberations was to not just claim normalcy in Kashmir but also make it visible.
“The government claims that terrorist violence incidents and killing of security personnel in J&K have reduced by almost 50 per cent since August 5, 2019, compared with the same period before it. “Since the August 5, 2019 decisions, violence in the Valley has steadily reduced. Stone pelting has almost vanished and the law-and-order situation is largely under control. However, a large presence of the Indian Army in the hinterland would sit oddly with claims of normalcy,” the official added.
Sources in the security establishment told The Indian Express that in the discussions it was proposed that the Army be withdrawn in a phased manner. “May be the Army can be withdrawn first from a couple of districts such as Anantnag and Kulgam. Following this, the situation on the counter-terror front and the response of the people would be assessed. Depending upon the results, further steps towards more withdrawals would be taken. That’s how it was done when the Border Security Force (BSF) was withdrawn from hinterland Kashmir in the mid-2000s,” another official said.
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