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| India-Pakistan |
| Most Indian CRPF Policemen had no weapons in the fidayeen assault |
| 2013-03-14 |
| Only one out of the five CRPF personnel killed and five out of the 15 personnel who were first to be injured in the Srinagar militant attack outside their camp on Wednesday were carrying weapons, sources said, although there was specific intelligence input about a possible attack on police camps by men in disguise. The CRPF had come under fire after four young men were killed in retaliatory fire by the force last month during protests against the execution of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, forcing the state administration to ask the paramilitary force not carry any weapons while patrolling the streets of Srinagar. CRPF said only 8,300 of the 25,000 personnel deployed in Srinagar, roughly one-third of the strength, were mandated to carry weapons. "The state police and administration was of the view that armed men moving around the streets instilled fear in the minds of citizens and they wanted to project the situation as normal as possible. While CRPF agreed to not carry arms, the BSF rejected their proposal. It now turns out that only one of the men among those killed was carrying a weapon virtually making them sitting ducks," said an official. After the attack, the Union Home Ministry said there was an intelligence alert about the entry of four militants in the area. Sources in the CRPF, however, said there was no specific input for Srinagar. Officials explained it was difficult to preempt any fidayeen attack and such bombers did not enter the targeted city overnight. Sources said there was a general alert following Afzal's hanging since February 9 and around four days back they received some inputs about Sopore area but no such information was shared for Srinagar. The CRPF, which was planning to pull out three battalions from Srinagar has put its plan on hold following the attack. It wanted to divert these men to Naxal-affected areas on the Chhattisgarh-Andhra Pradesh border and had even written to the state government about their move last year. Soon after the attack, CRPF DG Pranay Sahay rushed to Srinagar and convened a high-level meeting with his team. |
| Posted by:john frum |
| #1 The state police and administration was of the view that armed men moving around the streets instilled fear in the minds of citizens and they wanted to project the situation as normal as possible. Yep. Send police to Kashmir and take away their guns. Real smart. The Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir state rubbed salt in the wounds by refusing to attend the funerals for those policemen killed. |
| Posted by: john frum 2013-03-14 10:56 |