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| Securing unarmed CRPF personnel | | Kashmir situation & SOP | | Rustam
JAMMU, Mar 18: The prevailing situation in Kashmir is extraordinary. This has become evident from the March 13 Bemina (Srinagar) terrorist attack on the CRPF camp culminating in the brutal killing of 5 CRPF jawans -- who were unarmed --- and which also left 11 others, including 3 civilians, injured. There are reports that the Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied-Jammu and Kashmir (POJK)- based rabidly anti-India terror outfits like Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT)/Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and Hizbul Mujahideen (HM), at the behest of frustrated and desperate Pakistan, will conduct more such terror operations in different parts of India, including Jammu and Kashmir, and soft targets in the coming days. Then, out-on-the-limb and intriguers like Geelani, Mirwaiz, Malik and their ilk, besides some so-called mainstream Kashmiri leaders, are also there in Kashmir to fish in the troubled waters.
The March 13 terror attack and the manner in which Pakistani terrorists and their local collaborators conducted the operation should have made the authorities in the Union Home Ministry realize the gravity of the situation and arm all the CRPF personnel deployed in the terrorist and separatist-infested Kashmir with highly sophisticated weapons so that they could eradicate the scourge of terrorism in the Valley effectively and restore law and order on a permanent basis.
However, a report which emanated from New Delhi on March 17 clearly suggests that the Union Home Ministry has not learned any lesson from past mistakes and that it has decided to follow the existing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) while discharging "operational duties" in the restive Kashmir valley.
It was none other than the Director General of CRPF, Pranay Sahay, who made statement to this effect. Sahay, who returned to New Delhi only a couple of days ago after studying the situation and holding discussions with his commanders and CRPF personnel in Kashmir, said that it has been ordered that "one-third component of armed men will secure those in the riot-gear during their operational duties in the Valley". "The Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) have been there since long. This incident -- Fidayeen attack on the CRPF camp in Srinagar's Bemina area -- has come after three years. We have asked the boys who are armed to effectively secure those who are not and follow this procedure diligently," Sahay told premier news agency PTI on Sunday.
"It is essential that the personnel in riot-gear and without weapons are not left out of sight. This is a part of training and our men have displayed it amply as you see that the number of civilian casualties have been very less during protests in Kashmir in the last few years," Sahay also said, and added that the "SOPs were also discussed during his Unified Headquarters meet with Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah" and it was felt that "there was no" need "to change them". The SOPs, it needs to be noted, mandate that "one-third component of the force, when out on security and law and order duties, will have arms and secure the rest of the squad armed with batons and riot-gear". This mandate is highly undesirable considering the prevailing security scenario in Kashmir. You cannot ask our unarmed CRPF personnel to discharge their duties in such a hostile environment. It appears that the authorities in New Delhi have been going by the view of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. It is a wrong approach. It has proved costly in the past.
It is time for the authorities in New Delhi to dispense with the existing SOPs and arm all the CRPF personnel, as they are not cannon fodder. Not to do so or to continue to follow the same would only mean the perpetuation of a situation in which the Pakistani terrorists and their collaborators in Kashmir would be able to conduct their anti-India operations without any difficulty, with the unarmed CRPF personnel also becoming soft targets. This is not the way to handle the situation. The situation, as pointed out earlier, is extraordinary and extraordinary situation could be tackled by taking recourse to extraordinary means and methods. There is the need to provide sophisticated arms to all the CRPF personnel so that they are able to tackle the situation and also secure themselves. |
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