SRINAGAR: India’s home minister arrived in Kashmir yesterday to review the security situation in the face of massive protests over the alleged rape and murder of two Muslim women, officials said.
Chidambaram jointly chaired the unified command headquarters meeting with Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and called for evolving a strategy for the replacement of the Indian paramilitary, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) by local police for essential duties in Kashmir. The visit came in the backdrop of the massive violent protests and general shutdown across Kashmir in past over a week touched off by the rape and murder of two women in Shopian on May 30.
Chidambaram said, “The controlling officers of the CRPF and police should sit together to work out a strategy for gradual substitution of central reserve police force by local police in the essential duties that should ordinarily be performed by the Jammu and Kashmir police.”
Stating that the duties assigned to the security forces and the police are well defined, Chidambaram said “while army and paramilitary forces are tasked to perform security-related duties, the local police should perform all the essential police functions relating to maintenance of law and order.”
The state chief minister has been advocating such an apportionment of functions between the CRPF and local police, ever since he took over the reigns of state in January last. However, there had been almost no headway in the matter.
The recent unrest in Kashmir against the rape and murder of 17-year-old Asiya Jan and her 22-year-old sister-in-law Nilofar Jan allegedly by the security forces has provided the fresh impetus to the proposals of the chief minister to replace CRPF by the local police for a bigger role to it in the maintenance of the day to day law and order problems.
Chidambaram laid stress on strict adherence to Standing Operating Procedures (SOP) and Code of Conduct for the uniformed forces.
