SRINAGAR: Following the deployment of 3,000 additional Army personnel and 2,000 BSF personnel across various regions of Jammu, the Central Government has decided to dispatch two battalions of Assam Rifles to the area to bolster the Counter-Terrorism Grid and intensify operations against foreign terrorists hiding in the upper reaches of several districts.
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has approved the deployment of two Assam Rifles battalions (approximately 2,000 personnel) in the Jammu area due to a recent surge in terrorist attacks and intelligence reports indicating that over 50 foreign terrorists may be concealed in the forests of Doda, Udhampur, Poonch, Rajouri, Reasi, and Kathua districts.
The battalions will soon depart for Jammu and will be replaced in Manipur by an equal number of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel, the sources added. The Assam Rifles operates under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) with operational control by the Army, led by a Lieutenant General-rank officer as the Director General.
ALSO READ: ECI schedules three-day J&K trip for election preparation – THE NEW INDIAN
Previously, the Assam Rifles participated in security arrangements for the Annual Shri Amarnath Ji Yatra in Jammu and Kashmir.
Recently, the MHA airlifted 2,000 Border Security Force (BSF) personnel from Odisha for deployment along the International Border in Jammu, Samba, and Kathua districts, amid suspicions that some Pakistani terrorists had infiltrated through these border areas and neighbouring Punjab.
Before this, 3,000 more Army personnel were deployed in the region to step up operations against terrorists. The Army, CRPF, and JKP have also started establishing permanent outposts in the mountainous areas, which will be manned around the clock to maintain strict surveillance of terrorists and eliminate them through regular forest patrols.
Security forces are also in the process of setting up camps in vulnerable areas outside the forests to monitor any terrorist movements. The Special Operation Group (SOG) of Jammu Police is also establishing its camps in the mountainous areas of the region.