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| Army says no to law and order duty in J&K | | | Early Times Reporter
Srinagar | Aug 22
The Indian Army has been under tremendous pressure to step in and control law and order in Kashmir after the recent protests there but a senior Army officer has made it clear that the Army should be kept away from interfacing with the crowds as far as possible.
Huge protest rallies have been organized in Jammu and Srinagar over the past fortnight and over 20 people died in various incidents of firing by the J&K police and the CRPF.
Their role in dealing with the crowds increasingly came under the scanner, leading to demands to deploy the Army for crowd control. However, the Army itself is not too keen to take on a role that it is not trained for.
"We are already in J&K for counter-insurgency role but getting into law and order, getting into internal security situations is not really desirable. It is not desirable our troops to get entrenched with the crowds," said Lt Gen Mukesh Sabharwal, 15 Corps Commander, Srinagar.
In fact, the Army is all praise for the J&K police and the CRPF for handling a difficult task well. They fired on the crowd only under extreme provocation after many of their own people like the jawans were attacked and injured critically.
"The police and para-military forces have done a great job in difficult circumstances, all kudos to them," said Lt Gen Mukesh Sabharwal, 15 Corps Commander.
The Army is however willing to support the police and CRPF in various other ways like keeping the communication links open, identifying trouble-makers in the crowd and intensifying counter-terrorist operations in the hinterland to ease the pressure on the police and para-military forces.
Despite tensions and uncertainty in Kashmir, the Indian Army is clear that it will not involve itself in combating crowds or maintaining law and order as far as possible.
And apparently agreeing with the Army's standpoint, New Delhi on Friday decided to deploy 6,500 BSF troops on law and order duties in both Jammu and Kashmir in addition to the existing para-military forces present in the state. |
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