E-Paper
350 companies of para forces to stay in poll-bound J&K
Jammu and Kashmir's first assembly elections in a decade will be held on September 18, 25 and October 1. Votes will be counted on October 4.
New Delhi: At least 350 companies of paramilitary forces posted along the Amarnath Yatra route and set to return after August 19 on completing the pilgrimage security duty will continue to stay put in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) for the assembly polls, officials aware of the matter said.
Most of the companies staying back are of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). The Border Security Force (BSF), however, will send a majority of its personnel to the eastern frontier along the Indo-Bangladesh border, which is on high alert because of the political turmoil in the neighbouring country.
While there has been no mass gathering of Bangladeshi nationals (there were four such instances in first week after August 5) over the last two weeks, different battalions along the 4,096.7km border are reporting isolated cases of people attempting to cross over to India for better job opportunities.
Senior officials who asked not to be named said that sometime later this week, the election commission is likely to hold a joint meeting of senior officers from all agencies and decide on the deployment of the companies.
One paramilitary force company has at least 120 personnel depending on the area where the company is located.
“Around 350 companies, majority from the CRPF will remain posted in J&K for election security duty. The areas where they need to be deployed will be decided after a joint security review of the different agencies. There were nearly 470 companies involved in Amarnath Yatra security duty, of which at least 133 were sent from the BSF, the second highest after CRPF,” a senior official said.
Elections in J&K are scheduled against the backdrop of several terror attacks in the UT. At least 18 civilians have been killed and 20 security personnel have died in the line of duty this year. The forces have also eliminated at least 27 terrorists.
The Amarnath Yatra security was handled mostly by CRPF, BSF, Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and the SSB.
Officials said some of the BSF’s additional companies could also be sent to the India-Pakistan border in Punjab, which has reported an increasing incident of drones dropping weapons and drugs. “... given the increasing activities at the Punjab border, some companies could also be stationed at the Punjab frontier in the run up to elections,” the official said.
