BSF to be withdrawn from J-K by 2007

In keeping with the 2001 recommendations of the Group of Ministers’ report on security, the BSF will be completely delinked from internal security duties and replaced by the CRPF by 2007. The BSF will be kept exclusively as a border guarding force deployed along the Line of Control in J-K and Indo-Bangla border. It will continue to guard the Indo-Pak border in Punjab and Rajasthan.

The withdrawal of the BSF is linked with the CRPF raising, training and inducting additional battalions. The CRPF raised 15 additional battalions this year and replaced five battalions of BSF from urban areas in Kashmir. The rest of the 10 battalions have been deployed in others parts of the country for counter-Naxal operations. Raising and training each additional battalions takes about two years. Recently, the BSF had moved out of Srinagar city after being deployed for 15 years.

Senior Home Ministry officials said though the withdrawal of the BSF from Srinagar had been linked to the peace initiative with Pakistan and Hurriyat Conference — both had demanded troop reduction from urban areas in Kashmir — the schedule for replacing the BSF with the CRPF had been worked as early as 2004. In fact, the ministry conducts meetings — in April and October — to review the progress of the replacement schedule. The schedule of replacing BSF with CRPF was worked out last November by former Union Home Secretary Dhirendra Singh.