New Delhi: Amid a significant spike in terror attacks in Jammu that have resulted in multiple casualties, the Centre has chalked out a comprehensive plan to enhance security in the region. The Union Home Ministry is considering deploying more boots on ground in Jammu where security challenges are mounting during the ongoing counter terror operations. The strategy involves deployment of more than 2,000 troops of Assam Rifles and over 2,000 BSF personnel to step up security in the terror-hit Jammu region along the India-Pakistan border.
The Assam Rifles, a central paramilitary force that guards India’s border with Myanmar, will be deployed in Jammu for the first time, according to reports. The paramilitary force, popularly known as Sentinels of the Northeast, is likely to have a small base in Jammu and Kashmir soon.
2 Assam Rifles battalions to be deployed in Jammu
Two battalions of Assam Rifles, around 2,000 personnel of the oldest paramilitary force, will be drawn from violence-hit Manipur and relocated to Jammu owing to a series of terror attacks in the region after many years of relative peace. The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) will replace the Assam Rifles in the hill districts of Churachandpur and Kangpokpi in Manipur.
The Assam Rifles has been a border guarding force along the Indo-Myanmar border deployed in counter insurgency operations and to assist in maintaining peace in the region.
Additional BSF troops for Jammu
Besides this, the government has also ordered the extraction of two BSF battalions, comprising more than 2,000 personnel, from Odisha and their deployment in Jammu to help check infiltration and terrorist activities in the hinterland. The decision to “immediately” move the two units from the anti-Naxal operations grid to Jammu was taken in the wake of the recent spate of terror attacks in the region, official sources told PTI.
The two Border Security Force (BSF) units, to be withdrawn from Malkangiri and Koraput districts of Odisha on Home Ministry’s directions, are expected to be based in Samba and near the Jammu-Punjab border, the sources said.
“Two recent meetings, one in Delhi and one in Jammu, of the top security brass necessitated bolstering BSF deployment in Jammu. There was a proposal to move two BSF battalions from Odisha to Chhattisgarh to intensify anti-Naxal operations there but these units are now being sent to Jammu, given the current situation,” said a senior officer, requesting anonymity.
Security in the Jammu area has come into focus after a series of terror attacks in Rajouri, Poonch, Reasi, Udhampur, Kathua and Doda districts this year that have led to the killings of 22 people, including 11 security personnel and a village defence guard member.
