NEW DELHI: Of the total 7,071 calls received on CRPF’s ‘madadgaar’ helpline between August 11 and 16 enquiring about well-being of family members based in Kashmir, 171 came from outside India and 2,700 from families of security personnel deployed in the state.

The maximum calls were from Kashmiris living outside the state (2,448), while 1,752 calls were made by non-Kashmiris based outside Kashmir.

As many as 45 calls were received on the toll-free ‘madadgaar’ number ‘1441’ from Saudi Arabia between August 11, when the helpline was reactivated post-nullification of Article 370 , and August 16. The calls sought information about family members in Kashmir with some even requesting to talk to them.

Calls were received from 22 countries in all — including 39 from UAE; 12 from Kuwait; eight each from Israel and Malaysia; seven from Russia; six from US (New York) and Turkey; five from Australia; four each from UK, Singapore and Bangladesh; three each from Canada, Bahrain, Germany, Phillipines and Thailand; two each from Oman, France and Belgium; and one each from China and Qatar.

Interestingly, a senior official of the J&K administration told TOI that he too had received phone calls from several Pakistani numbers, some to genuinely enquire about well-being of relatives in Kashmir and some to hurl abuses at him.

Of the calls received on CRPF’s ‘14411’ helpline from families of security force personnel between August 11 and 16 — also seeking to check their kin’s well-being and talk to them — 1,882 related to CRPF, 174 to J&K police; 215 to Army, 112 to ITBP, 99 to SSB, 32 to CISF, 20 to RPF and eight to Air Force.

Around 1,752 calls were made to CRPF helpline by non-Kashmiris from outside J&K seeking information about situation in Kashmir and well-being of friends and colleagues there.

CRPF received more than 50 calls from various parts of the country and abroad of urgent nature like death of a relative, information pertaining to college admissions and job interviews, and updates about patients scheduled to undergo surgery/child delivery etc. CRPF Madadgaar took details of residence of the people enquired about, after which CRPF personnel posted in the Valley visited these households and delivered the message.



In Video: CRPF's ‘Madadgaar’ helpline gets 7000 calls in 6 days