Srinagar: The CRPF has requested the Jammu and Kashmir government to relieve two of its battalions posted in the state for re-deployment in Naxal-affected areas of the country, official sources said on Wednesday.
The paramilitary force sent the request to the state government citing improvement in the law and order and security scenario in the state, especially in the Valley, over the past two years, the sources said.
The CRPF, which took over the charge of anti-militancy operations in Kashmir hinterland from BSF eight years ago, wants to deploy the two battalions in naxal-affected states, the sources said.
The state government has kept the CRPF request in abeyance pending a consultation with the Union Home Ministry on the matter, the sources said.
"We will present our case during the consultative meeting ... the final decision will be taken by the Union Home Ministry," a senior official of the state Home Department said.
The deployment of CRPF in Kashmir was done by the Union Home Ministry at the request of the state government.
Over 50 CRPF battalions are deployed in Kashmir at the moment with almost half the paramilitary personnel manning the three central districts of Budgam, Ganderbal and Srinagar.
Although the CRPF was initially tasked with counter-insurgency operations, the force was heavily deployed during the 2008 Amarnath agitation and the 2010 summer protests in the Valley for maintaining law and order.
Comments
0 comment