Fayaz Bukhari
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Srinagar, May 12: The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) today said that they were anticipating militant attacks like point blank killing of two CRPF men at Halmulla, Sangam in district Anantnag on National Highway yesterday.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of wreath laying ceremony of two CRPF men killed in Anantnag yesterday, Inspector General of CRPF, Atul Karwal, said the security forces had anticipated the trend in view of the intelligence inputs. “It is a trend which all of us have anticipated. Preparations are afoot to meet such challenges,” he added.
Commenting on the killing of two CRPF men at Halmulla yesterday, the IG CRPF said there are lessons to be learnt from the incident and the force will be better prepared in future to deal with such incidents. “We learn from such incidents and we come up better prepared to handle such incidents,” he added.
Karwal while paying tributes to the slain cops said that it is a loss to the nation, the force and their families. “It is a very sad and unfortunate incident. It is a loss to the nation, to the force and families. Families have our support in this hour of grief. We are determined not to allow the morale of the forces to go down,” he added.
Earlier, the CRPF bid a tearful adieu to the CRPF officer and a jawan. A wreath laying ceremony was held at Humhama Regimental Centre of the CRPF where Director General of Police K Rajendra Kumar, Inspector General of Police Kashmir range, SJM Gillani and Inspector General of CRPF Atul Karwal were present.
The senior officers laid floral wreaths on the coffins carrying bodies of Assistant Sub Inspector Omkar Nath Singh and Constable Trilok Singh. The duo were killed in a militant attack at Halmulla, Sangam on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway in district Anantnag yesterday. Militants also snatched their weapons, however, an INSAS rifle was later recovered from a nearby nullah.
There was anger among paramilitary CRPF jawans at the ceremony as no political leader was present at the wreath laying ceremony. They hit out at the politicians for not attending the wreath laying ceremony. “We lay our life for the country, but there is no value. No politician turned up for the ceremony,” said a CRPF jawan.
The jawan said someone from the Government should have represented the State to pay their respects to the slain jawans. “They died for the country and for the security of the people. Someone should have been here,” he added.
Karwal, however, said the presence of the politicians was immaterial as much the support which the force enjoyed. “I feel we have the support of the political hierarchy. The presence is immaterial as much as is the support we need and we feel we have that. DGP is here,” he said.
In the meantime, security forces busted a militant hideout at Zaloora forests of Sopore in North Kashmir’s Baramulla district today and recovered huge cache of arms and ammunition.
The operation was conducted by the 27 Rashtriya Rifles of army and Special Operations Group of Police, Rafiabad after they received information about a militant hideout in the forests.
Four AK-47 rifles, 2 AK-56 rifles, three UBGLs, three pistols, 756 AK rounds, 19 pistol rounds, 15 AK magazines, 30 UBGL grenades, 14 hand grenades and large number of IEDs and explosive material was recovered from the hideout.