According to the latest news from news agency PTI, there was a plan to reduce the presence of soldiers of the army’s anti-terrorist force ‘Rashtriya Rifles’ in some areas of Jammu. They were supposed to hand over the security arrangements to the Jammu and Kashmir Police and paramilitary forces. In the Jammu division, the Army’s CIF conducts counter-terrorist and counter-infiltration operations. CIF has three parts – Delta Force for Doda, Romeo Force for Rajouri and Poonch. The third one is Uniform force which is deployed in Udhampur and Banihal area.
PTI’s report , quoting officials , claimed that there was a plan to gradually reduce some army units in South Pir Panjal and to replace them with paramilitary forces and Jammu and Kashmir Police to manage security and law and order. But in view of the current situation, it has been postponed indefinitely. The report said that the recent incidents and activities of the terrorists are the reason behind the decision for not postponing. In these incidents of 2023 , terrorists killed 17 people in the Jammu region. Among those killed were 10 army personnel.
On 1 Jan 2023, 7 civilians were killed in Dangri village of Rajouri. There was firing and bomb blast as well. On 20 April 2023, 5 soldiers were killed in an attack on an army vehicle in Bhatta Durrian of Mendhar tehsil in Poonch district. It was the month of Ramadan and these soldiers were going to deliver material like food and drinks for Iftar in a nearby village. On May 5, five para commandos were killed in an IED blast in the forests of Kandi in Rajouri. An officer of the rank of Major was also injured in this incident.
It has been said in this report that the decision to give the green signal to the plan , to reduce the army gradually , was to be taken by the Unified Headquarters (UHQ), which is headed by Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir Manoj Kumar Sinha. In addition to the army, the unified headquarters has representatives from the police and paramilitary forces.
According to another report, about 1.3 lakh soldiers are deployed in the entire Jammu and Kashmir and out of these, about 80 thousand soldiers are deployed on the borders of India. About 40 to 45 thousand soldiers of Rashtriya Rifles conduct anti-terrorist operations in the interior of Kashmir. On the other hand, there is deployment of about 60 thousand personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force CRPF. About 45 thousand of these jawans are deployed in the Kashmir Valley. At the same time, Jammu and Kashmir police also have the strength of 83000 personnel. Apart from this, some companies in the valley also belong to other Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF).
