Now, SP-rank officers to lead CRPF convoys in Jammu and Kashmir under new rules

india

Updated: Apr 01, 2019 10:13 IST

A superintendent of police (SP) rank officer would lead convoys carrying the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel in Jammu and Kashmir, according to an official.

A convoy will not have more than 40 vehicles and the number of armed, bulletproof vehicles escorting convoys will also increase as part of the new Standard-Operating Procedure (SOP) for the troop movement, the official added.

The change in the procedure comes over a month after the February 14 car bomb attack on a CRPF convoy left 40 personnel dead.

There were as many as 78 buses carrying nearly 2,500 troops to Kashmir when it was attacked in Pulwama.

The attack prompted India to carry out an air strike on a Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeI) terrorist camp in Pakistan’s Balakot.

The JeI claimed responsibility for the attack that escalated tensions between India and Pakistan. The two countries were involved in a dogfight over the skies of Kashmir after the air strike.

The CRPF is the lead counter-insurgency force in Jammu and Kashmir. It has over 50 battalions with each having about 1,000 troopers in the state.

Troops have also been asked to maintain the “passenger manifest discipline” for each vehicle in a convoy strictly. A convoy commander will be directly in touch with one of the three CRPF deputy inspectors general (operations) based in Kashmir.

Earlier junior officers led convoys moving troops from Jammu to Srinagar and back.

“We are trying things out differently to prevent any lapses, and you will see more changes in the future,” said a second CRPF officer, who did not want to be named.

The officer said the logic behind having a senior officer lead a convoy and reducing the number of vehicles in convoys was to ensure better command and control as well as coordination. The change in the SOP for troop movement in Jammu and Kashmir is likely to bring more synergy, but unlikely to prevent attacks altogether, the officials said.

A convoy of 30 vehicles carrying CRPF men to Srinagar from Jammu narrowly escaped another attack on Saturday.

A vehicle parked along the Jammu-Srinagar highway blew-up as the CPRF convoy carrying soldiers moved towards the Banihal tunnel and damaged a bus in the convoy.

Investigations have found that the car was packed with urea – an easily available dual-use chemical that can also be used to trigger an explosion – and liquid petroleum gas cylinders.

The car was charred even as there were no casualties. Fresh leads emerging from the investigation suggest that the driver of the vehicle could have jumped out of the moving car after having navigated it to the proximity of the convoy.

“There has no major breakthrough although we are following some very strong leads. We are also looking at how the stationary vehicle was not detected by the layers of security that were deployed,” said an official in the security establishment, who did not want to be named.