New Delhi: With 40 Central Reserve Police Personnel (CRPF) killed in a suicide attack on their convoy in Awantipora town of Pulwama district on Thursday, Jammu and Kashmir national highway has once again proven to be a death trap for the security forces.
Since 2013, almost 11 major attacks have been mounted on the security forces by the militants in which as many as 58 jawans lost their lives.
Most of these attacks have been witnessed on the Srinagar-South Kashmir highway stretch, claiming 56 of the 58 security personnel lives.
In 2013, militants mounted an attack on a Road Opening Party (ROP) in which one CRPF personnel was killed. This was followed by another attack on a ROP in Pulwama in which another CRPF personnel was killed.
The year 2014 saw no major attack on the security personnel on the Jammu and Kashmir national highway. In 2015, three militant attacks were carried out on the national highway in which two Border Security Forces (BSF) personnel and two CRPF personnel were killed. The attacks took place in Chennai, Pampore and Bijbehara.
The year 2016 was the worst year in terms of attacks on security forces on the J&K national highway in which four major attacks were carried out by the militants. In these attacks, 13 security personnel (10 CRPF men and three BSF men) were killed. One of the major attacks that happened in 2016 happened on 25th of June, when militants attacked a CRPF convoy in Pampore, killing eight jawans.
Year 2017 saw only one major attack on the national highway—the Amaranth Yatri convoy. In this attack, no security personnel were killed but seven Yatris lost their lives.
On July 14, 2018, militants attacked a BSF convoy on Jammu-Srinagar national highway in Udhampur killing two soldiers of the border guarding force and injuring 11 others. One of the two terrorists involved in the strike was shot dead in retaliatory fire.
Earlier, Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti questioned why the CRPF soldiers were allowed to travel in a convoy. Speaking to News18, the state's ex-top cop said that he had proposed to airlift soldiers to avoid Pulwama-like tragedy. He added that exposing forces for a long duration can pose a threat to their lives.
Reacting to the development, Vaid told News18 on Friday: "The transit alone takes a lot of time, especially when the roads are closed for weeks. This exposes the soldiers for a prolonged duration. I had proposed to airlift the jawans during high-level security meeting of joint forces more than once, and also spoke about it to representatives of state and Union governments."
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