J-K wants more forces than Centre can give

The J and K government has pressed the panic button. To ensure free and peaceful elections in the state, the Farooq Abdullah government has...

The J and K government has pressed the panic button. To ensure free and peaceful elections in the state, the Farooq Abdullah government has demanded an additional 450 companies (about 58,500 troops) but the Centre has said that they can only release 350 (about 45,000 troops).

The additional forces have to be positioned at their respective locations by August 7 so that they have about a month to settle down before the September elections, disclosed sources in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

Relief rules different for civilians, Army: NHRC

New Delhi: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has made a distinction between the rights of an Army personnel and a civilian by rejecting a captain’s demand for compensation following the death of his daughter in an attack in Jammu and Kashmir.
Ram Niwas Sharma told the NHRC his daughter Leena was blown up while travelling in an Army vehicle to ‘‘terrorise people and send a message that anyone associated with the Army would be eliminated’’. He claimed parity with the ‘‘innocent victims of the mindless violence.’’
The MoD acknowledged the death in an IED explosion in J-K’s Pulwama district but rejected the claim for compensation.
It said compensation, according to the rules, is restricted to those cases where the death of the service personnel was directly caused by actual field operation or was killed by militants, terrorists and extremists after being kidnapped. PTI

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Messages have already been sent out to the various Central Police Organisations — BSF, CRPF, Special Security Bureau (SSB) and Indo-Tibetan Border Police — to gather their resources and be ready for deployment by next week.

‘‘Hectic activity has already started at the various CPOs as they are in the process of pulling out companies from base battalions, various headquarters and even the MHA reserve. Anyway most of the reserve companies were already deployed for counter-insurgency operations in J&K, but now we will have to withdraw personnel from everywhere possible,’’ said an official.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had asked the state government to send a proposal as to how much additional forces it would require to ensure a peaceful and credible polling process. ‘‘They have asked for 450 companies, which is not feasible. For that, we will have to withdraw forces from other borders, which we cannot afford to do,’’ he added.

The CPOs have already started coordinating with officials posted in the state. ‘‘Control rooms are being set up and special officers designated for handling election work. The process of identifying the areas as sensitive and hyper-sensitive is also in progress. That will be over in a day or two and the deployment will take place on that basis,’’ sources said.

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It has been a tough time for the security forces in the state. ‘‘Security is anyway tight in view of the ongoing Amarnath Yatra. Then there is August 15, followed by elections. The additional troops brought in for yatra will also stay on till the polls are over,’’ said an official.

Sources said that the plan so far was to have elections in three phases in Jammu and four phases in Srinagar, keeping the most sensitive areas for the last, so that security forces from other places could also be sent there.

And also that one of the views of postponing elections till October had more or less been rejected since it starts snowing in some areas in the state and these would have got isolated from the poll process.

At present, the deployment in J&K, according to official figures, is three lakh, including 2.5 lakh army personnel and 50,000 from CPOs and paramilitary.

Police personnel seen to control the situation during a massive protest over the statehood demand and the inclusion of Ladakh under the Sixth Schedule, in Leh on Wednesday. (ANI Video Grab)

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