Ministry of Home Affairs Deploys 100 Companies of Paramilitary Forces in Kashmir

The MHA late Friday evening ordered deployment of 100 paramilitary forces' companies in Kashmir.

New Delhi: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in an urgent fax on Friday evening ordered deployment of 100 companies of paramilitary forces in Kashmir, over and above the already stationed personnel.

Titled ‘Deployment of CAPFs convoys in Jammu and Kashmir’, the fax was sent to the Jammu and Kashmir chief secretary, the state home secretary and the director general of the Jammu and Kashmir Police.  Reportedly, hours within the fax, all personnel were airlifted to Srinagar.

This comes in wake of the heightened anti-terror crackdowns in the Valley and massive raids, followed by arrests of several of separatists.

Separatist Yasin Malik was the first to be arrested by the police from his Maisuma residence in Srinagar on Friday. This was followed by dozens of Jamaat-e-Islami separatists, including its chief Abdul Hamid Fayaz being arrested in overnight raids across the Valley.

Out of the 100 companies, 45 are from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), 35 from Border Security Force (BSF) and 10 each from the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and Shashtra Seema Bal (SSB).

The fax read, “CRPF is requested to ensure immediate movement of forces in coordination with IG (Ops) of all forces”.  The message has “immediate” mentioned on the top, underscoring the urgency of the action. “

This development comes nine days after the deadly Pulwama terror attack claimed lives of 40 security personnel, travelling in a 78-bus CRPF convoy on the Jammu-Srinagar highway.

Soon after, Pakistan-based terrorist organisation Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) took responsibility for the attack. An explosive-laden SUV rammed a CRPF vehicle on February 14, killing all onboard and injuring five jawans.

With inputs from Ieshan Wani