The Centre has ordered rushing of about 10,000 central forces personnel to the Kashmir Valley in order to strengthen counter-insurgency operations and law and order duties there, officials said on Saturday, 27 July.
They said the Union home ministry has ordered the deployment of 100 companies of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) on 25 July on an "immediate" basis. Officials said that 100 more companies are expected to be sent to the Valley.
One CAPF company comprises about 100 personnel. The latest units will be drawn from the CRPF (50 companies), SSB (30) and ITBP and BSF will contribute 10 each, they said. The ministry has said that these personnel will be deployed to strengthen the counter-insurgency grid and law and order duties in the Kashmir Valley, they said. They are being air lifted and sent by trains, officials said.
Security At Amarnath
It is understood that the new units will reinforce the strength of the security forces already present in the Valley who are conducting the annual Amarnath Yatra and carrying out counter-terrorism operations daily, they added.
According to top government sources, NSA Ajit Doval held a meeting of counter-terrorism grid in Jammu and Kashmir in view of a "major terrorist attack threat in the Kashmir valley. The decision to deploy the troops is to further strengthen the counter-terrorist grid in the state," reported ANI.
The sources also said that there are inputs about a major terrorist attack being planned by Pakistan-based terror outfits, as per ANI.
The troops will be in addition to about 65 regular battalions of the Central Reserve Police Force in the Valley and over 20 other battalions of other forces deployed to conduct the yatra that will end on 15 August.
‘Deployment of Troops Scared Kashmiris’
Former minister and People's Conference chairman Sajad Gani Lone on Saturday said the Centre's decision to deploy additional 100 companies of Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) to Jammu and Kashmir has "created scare and panic" among the people.
"Nobody seems to have the remotest idea of what is in the offing. The signs are ominous and rumour mills are rife with suggestions that the special identity of the Kashmiri people may be under attack," Lone said in a statement in Srinagar.
The former minister said the rumours of tinkering with Article 35-A, dealing with the special rights of the citizens of Jammu and Kashmir, were spreading fast and there is no reaction from the state or the Central governments.
Meanwhile, Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti warned the Centre on Sunday, 28 July, against the revocation of Article 35A, saying any tinkering with the constitutional provision would be akin to setting a powder keg on fire.
Addressing a function to celebrate the Peoples Democratic Party's 20th raising day, Mufti asked her party workers to get ready for a big fight for the protection of Article 35A, which gives special rights and privileges to the state's permanent residents.
"We want to tell the Central government that tinkering with Article 35A will be akin to setting a powder keg on fire," the PDP president said. "If any hand tries to touch Article 35A, not only that hand, but that whole body will be burnt to ashes."
(With inputs from PTI and ANI)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)