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JAMMU: The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) is all set to take over counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism (CI/CT) responsibilities currently being performed by the Army in parts of some districts of J&K. Initially, these deployments will be made in Kathua, Samba and Udhampur districts.
Incidentally, Kathua, Samba and a part of Jammu district are operational areas of the Western Command with its headquarters in Chandi mandir. On the other hand, Udhampur falls under the Northern Command and has been serving as its headquarters since 1971 when this command was created.
The deployment of CRPF personnel in many areas which have witnessed low presence of terrorists for the past few years will help to free Army resources. Mainly personnel of the Rashtriya Rifles (RR), specialised units meant to fight counter-insurgency operations. The RR units comprising Army personnel were formed at the height of terrorism after it was found that terrorists often had better weapons, than the state police, and other personnel inducted in most areas for counter-insurgency operations.
In the long run, this could lead to freeing up of Army units from counter-insurgency duties. This CRPF deployment is being seen as an improvement in ground situation to an extent that presence of specialised units of Central police forces is being considered adequate to face challenges which were earlier handled by the Army.
After the abrogation of Article 35-A and Article 370, things have changed on ground with number of active terrorists and incidents of terrorism coming down significantly. This is considered an opportunity for deployment of the Army units back to their formations. Resuming their full training schedules and maintenance of law and order in the hands of the police altogether.
At one time, induction of several RR units all over the Union Territory (UT) of J&K was considered a dire necessity. In the next phase, a couple of decades ago, the deployment of Border Security Force (BSF) personnel happened and in this third phase, CRPF personnel are getting more areas as their operational responsibility.
According to senior officials, the CRPF has been asked to prepare and to facilitate the replacement of Army personnel in designated counter insurgency and counter terrorism roles. As of now, it is being said that the CRPF deployment will be done across 21 locations, with the force requirement being assessed. These locations are considered hyper sensitive and will be the first to see CRPF deployment as decided earlier.
The plan also involves nine teams of the CRPF’s specialised CoBRA unit, considered elite trained personnel, with better weaponry and having expertise in dealing swiftly with most unforeseen circumstances. These teams will remain deployed while another CRPF
nine teams will undergo training with operational deployment to be managed dynamically according to operational requirements.
The move comes amid continued efforts to streamline the deployment of security forces involved in counter-insurgency operations in the Jammu region.
In the coming days, J&K will thus see restructuring in the deployment of security forces, including the reduction of Rashtriya Rifles (RR) troops from various areas and deployment of CRPF instead. This is a part of the bigger phased withdrawal of RR units so that the status quo ante as prevailed before the breakout of terrorism in late 1989 and early 1990 could be achieved.
This, however, does not mean that the RR will be completely removed from J&K as these units will remain deployed in the more troublesome and challenging areas. In several areas, even today, area domination by the RR units is considered vital for maintaining peace.
