Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, May 18: Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) today said that they are anticipating Amarnath Yatra will be targeted but made it clear that the security will be intensified and it will no more be a soft target.
The Inspector General of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Atul Karewal told reporters here that the way situation is unfolding yatra is a soft target but the security will be intensified. “There is no specific input this year but there is anticipation that yatra may be targeted this year. The way situation is unfolding, yatra is a soft target and we will not allow it to be a soft target. We will make hard security arrangements so that targeting it becomes difficult”, he said.
Karewal said that threat is every year but this year there is more. “Every year there is threat to Yatra and this year there is more. Militants will try to target it but we are prepared to deal with it”, he added.
The IG CRPF said that security forces will make full use of technology and CCTV footage will be monitored live in the headquarters of various security agencies. “We will use technology. The CCTV was seen there in the joint control room. We want to bring that video here in our office, in DGP’s office and even to DG CRPF office in the Directorate of CRPF so that they can see live where are fault lines”, he added.
Karewal said that security will be tightened along yatra route and at Baltal base camp which are concern areas. “My understanding is that for yatra we have to focus on road opening parties so that the yatra which passes through the roads is secure. Another focus area will be Baltal where there has been trouble in the past and in this kind of situation there are apprehensions of trouble and we will upgrade security there”, he added.
The CRPF officer said that deployment plan is being worked out by the Jammu and Kashmir Police and whatever is the requirement of CRPF it will be provided. “Jammu and Kashmir Police on the basis on intelligence inputs will work out a requirement plan for the security forces. Whatever will be the requirement of the CRPF we will deploy it”, he said.
Karewal said that the security forces will overcome the problems faced last year during yatra. “We have discussed the difficulties we faced last year. We will try to overcome them this year. We want safe and secure yatra. We want to improve the coordination of Yatra”, he added.
The officer said that deployment will be more or less same as it was last year. “We have done the CRPF deployment. It is more than what was last year”, he added.
On militant attacks on CRPF, Karewal said that the force is reviewing ROPs and SOPs so that the attacks are repulsed in a better way. “We are improving on the ROPs and SOPs were reviewing. We are deploying the ROPs in a way that they can deal with any possible attacks in a better way, he added.
The officer said that as the situation is normal the security forces are anticipating trouble ahead but “we are prepared for it”.
The IG CRPF said there is very good coordination between various forces operating in Kashmir. “There is very good coordination between various security agencies. Police and Army are very cooperative. We have support from everywhere”, he added.
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