Babu Khan
Srinagar : In the wake of two major recent strikes by militants resulting in the heavy loss to the CRPF in Kashmir, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has fine-tuned the “forces deployment plan” for the CRPF to minimize loss of life during possible militant strikes.
Reliable sources in MHA revealed to news agency KINS that the new plan entails that the troops should maintain a significant distance from each other while performing certain important duties on streets and roads that include regular patrolling, Road Opening Party job, manning highways, enforcing lockdown etc.
It is pertinent to mention that CRPF is primarily responsible for manning highways and its men are normally part of the Road Opening Parties (ROPs)
“The jawans have been asked to maintain at least 100 meter distance from each other while performing these duties on ground zero to ensure that in case there is any militant attack, minimum damage is caused,” sources said.
A top CRPF official told KINS that they have already passed certain important direction to the personnel on ground. “Strict directions have been passed to the men to ensure that their service riffles are tied with the waste chains so that militants don’t find it easy to snatch the weapons after attacking the men,” he said, adding that a fresh set of directions have been passed to the men on ground which are operational in nature and cant be disclosed to media men.
It may be recalled that on April 18, in a deadly attack on CRPF men at Sopore in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, three CRPF men were killed. And recently, at Handwara in northKashmir’s Kupwara district, three more CRPF men, who were in a huddle in an orchard were killed and their riffles snatched. The lesser known outfit The Resistance Front (TRF), had claimed the responsibility for both the attacks.
Police has been stating that TRF was the shadow of Lashkar-e-Toiba and not a new outfit. IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar recently said that after there was an international pressure on Pakistan to curb militancy, Lashkar men started operating under the name of TRF.(KINS)
