For the first time ever, a company of 120 Indian women would be deputed to Liberia on a peace-keeping mission following a UN request to the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).
"We had met some of the commanders of the UN who requested us to send a company of the women's force," said CRPF Director General JK Sinha.
The issue came up during a meeting with UN officials and members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) in 2005, he said, adding that the CRPF is the lone force in the world that has a special battalion of women personnel.
"The forces deployed in Liberia were facing difficulty while dealing with women and therefore we were requested to send a company," Sinha added.
The CRPF personnel would be posted in Liberia for a year and the status of their returning back to India would be decided only after completion of the tenure.