On lines of US Marines, 960 newly minted policemen will exclusively combat terror in J-K

Significantly, this is the first-ever force in the Jammu and Kashmir Police whose personnel cannot be deployed for any other duty.

Pointing out that nearly 960 jawans who passed out from the Jammu and Kashmir Police Training School were deployed in border areas on Wednesday, R R Swain, J-K Director General of Police (DGP), said their recruitment was done on the basis of the area they came from. “The selections will be made from the border areas and they will be deployed in the border areas,” Swain added.

“They will work only on anti-infiltration and anti-terrorism fronts and they will not be deployed as PSOs (personal security officers) or in the office or for any other extra work,” he said, adding, “There are strict restrictions on them”.

“Their supervisory officers too have been strictly instructed that they cannot be shifted to other jobs than their original anti-infiltration and anti-terrorism work. You will deploy them only on anti-infiltration and anti-terrorism work so that the general area security gets enhanced and it becomes extremely difficult for the adversary to infiltrate and spread terror,” DGP Swain said.

Pointing out that these personnel are “very young” people “from the border villages”, Swain said that they know the area well and also understand the tactics of the enemy. “They are our own boys and they are not from places from outside Jammu and Kashmir – not even from other districts of J-K, but from the respective border tehsils only,” he said.

Meanwhile, sources said that the idea behind the deployment of these exclusively trained personnel in their respective border tehsils was to strengthen human intelligence. As the personnel are locals, it is expected that they will find it easier to get information about any unusual movement in the area. This is also expected to help police and security forces take on infiltrating terrorists near the border itself.

Last month, terrorists were found to have reached far-off areas in Doda and Reasi districts without drawing the attention of the security agencies. In Kathua district’s Saida village, Jammu Kashmir Police and security forces killed two terrorists after they knocked at a door for water and the villagers raised the alarm.

In Doda district, police and security forces launched massive searches and killed three terrorists only after the latter made their presence known by attacking a joint police and Army check post.

Similarly, in Reasi district, security agencies only learnt about a fresh infiltration by a group of militants after they attacked a Katra-bound bus of pilgrims, killing nine people and injuring several others near Ransoo village.