he Jammu and Kashmir police, under instruction from Chief Minister Omar Abdullah issued strict instructions to Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel to follow the standard operating procedure (SoP) and not carry weapons while patrolling the streets. The letter was issued on 11 February, two days after Afzal Guru's hanging on 9 February. The SoP, which says that only one third of the jawans of a company can carry weapons, has been in effect in the state for more than five years.

Omar Abdullah's instruction came soon after a CRPF contingent allegedly opened fire at Watergam in Baramulla and killed a young protester, Ubair Ahmed. Abdullah asked Kashmir Inspector General of Police S.M. Sahai to write a letter to IG, CRPF Kashmir and to all the commandants of CRPF battalions, instructing them to follow SoP while dealing with protests. Sahai, apart from sending the letter, held a meeting with the Inspector General of CRPF, Operations, S.S. Sandhu, who refused to send his men on the streets without firearms.

When Abdullah was informed by his police top brass about this, he rushed to New Delhi and met Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde. The Home Minister apparently talked to DG CRPF asking him to cooperate with the state government.

According to a journalist with a national daily, Abdullah has little choice on the matter as he cannot be seen to be sympathetic to the CRPF: "He is a politician first and for him, the fact that the CRPF is seen as a villain by the civilians doesn't leave him much option except to clamp down on their working."

Ever since the execution of Afzal Guru, around 350 CRPF jawans have been injured in different clashes in Kashmir. Officials who have served in the valley said that the SoP has tied the hands of the jawans. "Without guns the jawans were easy target. In case of a terror attack, the jawans are not expected to wait for their colleagues who are carrying weapons to defend them. If you have a paramilitary force operating in a city, you need to give them their gun. The whole purpose behind deploying CRPF is to contain terrorism after the state police failed to do so," said an army officer of the rank of major, who was in posted in the state for more than two years.

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"The discretion in carrying weapons was a part of the confidence building exercises between the force and the civilians. It is true that the attack on security forces had decreased in the last five years," he added. Since 2008, close to 280 security personnel have lost their lives in Jammu and Kashmir. The figure for the preceding five years was 1,170 deaths.

CRPF spokesman B.C. Khanduri said that the five jawans who died were operating as per the SoP. When questioned whether or not they were carrying guns, Khanduri said, "When a jawan can carry a gun and when he cannot, is laid down in the SoP and they were operating as per it."

As per sources, the jawans who died were carrying lathis, tear gas shells and pepper grenades. A senior CRPF officer who was present at Bemina when the Fidayeen attack took place, confirmed to this newspaper that four of the five CRPF jawans killed were not carrying firearms. "About 50 of our jawans with lathis and riot gear belonging to the 73rd Battalion were waiting for a truck which was supposed to take them to a Srinagar locality to chase away the protesters. They were waiting when the militants started firing on them and lobbed grenades."

"The two terrorists, who managed to kill our jawans before being eliminated, were shot dead by the jawans who had access to guns," said another official.