CRPF to be airlifted after attacks, recovery of sticky bombs

Srinagar: The Union Ministry of Home Affairs in an official order on Thursday has asked the CRPF to airlift jawans instead of sending them in convoys in Jammu and Kashmir. The letter has been dispatched to the CRPF after ground reports that sticky bombs could be used in Kashmir against convoys of CRPF.
ANI news agency in its report has quoted the letter as saying: “In view of the new threat from magnetic IEDs and RCIEDs, Inspector General has desired ferrying of jawans on leave through MI-17 helicopter to minimize the risk of IEDs on the convoy. Accordingly, three days per week have been earmarked for the transportation of troops.”
“It was a long-pending decision which has been implemented. Now, jawans and officers can be easily ferried through BSF MI-17 thrice in a week and there would not be any threat of IEDs as well,” ANI quoted a senior CRPF official as saying.
This development has come after a series of high-level security meetings, especially after the recent sneak attack in the high security zone of Srinagar Airport Road in which two J&K police constables were killed. The security situation was reviewed and now the government has decided to stop all the civilian traffic when the convoys move in Jammu and Kashmir.
New SOPs have been framed after the security agencies got inputs that sticky bombs were very much in the hands of people and it has alarmed them to make the movement of convoys in Jammu and Kashmir more secure.
After decades in the main business hub of Srinagar, a few days back, a special operation group of J&K police, along with CRPF, suddenly ringed the area and started frisking people by lining them up asking them to stay in the area till the search operation was over.
Recently, in the Samba district of Jammu, security agencies got hold of sticky bombs and it has alarmed them to take preventive measures so that such bombs are not attached to any security convoy as they can be exploded with the help of time devices.
Recently, security forces in the morning could see Improvised Explosive Device (IED) planted on the main highway at Nowgam and it was subsequently destroyed.
All civilian vehicles would be stopped till the convoys are not over and it will remain in force for the time being. Many New Delhi based news agencies have quoted top intelligence officials as saying that sticky bombs found in Samba were identical to the one used in the attack outside the Israeli Embassy.
Meanwhile, reports said Lt. Governor Manoj Sinha is not happy with the way the administration is working along with police.
Sinha reportedly is for a massive shake-up both in police and civil administration, as he feels that there is administrative inertia prevailing in Jammu and Kashmir.
The task of reshuffle to bring officers from outside is now easy for him as the Union Home Ministry has recently merged the cadres of JK UT with the other UT’s of the country. Now the IPS and IAS officers could come to Jammu and Kashmir from these Union Territories and officers from Jammu and Kashmir could be transferred to these UTs.