The police on Saturday said that more than 10,000 paramilitary soldiers arriving by air in Kashmir are meant for forthcoming elections.
“We have requested for additional forces for elections and they have started to arrive in the Valley,” director general of police Dilbagh Singh told Greater Kashmir.
He said the soldiers were airlifted because the Srinagar-Jammu highway was closed. He said while some have arrived, the rest would be here in a few days.
Asked about the arrest of separatist leaders and dozens of other people, the DGP said more arrests are likely.
“We won’t leave the people who disrupt peace,” he said and added that during local bodies and panchayat elections, the police had arrested more than 700 people.
“We have a list of the people who disrupt things and we will act,” he said. At a time when relations between India and Pakistan have soured, sudden arrival of such a large number of troops triggered speculations in the Valley.
The Home ministry on Friday evening announced that “100 additional companies of paramilitary soldiers” are being airlifted to Srinagar, where the Jammu and Kashmir police and existing security forces worked through the night rolling out their deployment plan for the next few days. The 100 companies of security forces will add 10,000 paramilitary soldiers to the already more than 70,000 paramilitary forces deployed in Kashmir, besides the army, local police and other security forces. Depending on the nature of a paramilitary force, a company of soldiers typically consists of between 80 and 150 soldiers. The fresh deployment includes 45 companies from CRPF, 35 BSF and 10 each of the SashastraSeemaBal (SSB) and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).
According to figures available with the security apparatus, more than 55 battalions (a battalion has 1000 men) have been deployed in the Valley, while nearly 15 have been stationed in Jammu. Srinagar, figures reveal, has the largest presence of CRPF, followed by Anantnag. An official said that more than 30000 paramilitary forces personnel are stationed in Srinagar alone.
“The number of personnel deployed in the Valley swelled up also after central orders to divert troops for security during AmarnathYatra,” a top police official said here.
He said that additional paramilitary forces will be deployed at sensitive installations and other guard duties. “The replaced paramilitary forces men will be used for law and order duty. So far it has not been decided whether BSF will replace CRPF.”
A senior official said that 26 per cent of the total strength of the CRPF, which is the world’s largest paramilitary force, has been deployed in Jammu and Kashmir for maintenance of law and order and fighting militancy. He said apart from massive concentration of the CRPF, other paramilitary forces, such as BSF ITBP, SSB, have also significant presence in the state.