8000 more troops airlifted to Jammu & Kashmir
In view of anticipated violence in Jammu and Kashmir after the Centre’s announcement on repealing Article 370, nearly 8,000 paramilitary troops were on Monday airlifted from Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Assam and other parts of the country to the Valley.
The Indian Army and the Indian Air Force have been put on high alert following the unprecedented developments.
President Ram Nath Kovind has signed the notification to scrap Article 370.
The Government has planned the reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir as Union Territory. According to the plan, Ladakh will be a Union Territory without an Assembly.
The announcement comes on the backdrop of a Cabinet meeting at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s residence at 7 Lok Kalyan Marg earlier in the day.
The Valley is already in an unprecedented state of lockdown with Section 144 being imposed across Jammu and Kashmir. Mobile internet services have been snapped.
All educational institutions have been closed till further orders and all Kashmir University exams have been postponed without specifying the next date.
Meanwhile, former chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti are under house arrest in Srinagar since early morning.
Jammu and Kashmir remained on the edge on Sunday as a major security build-up sparked fears and tensions among the locals and tourists.
The dramatic security clampdown had already stoked fears of the Centre scrapping Article 35A, which gives exclusive rights to the state’s residents in government jobs and land, or Article 370 which gives autonomous status to the state.
Last week, over 28,000 additional troops of paramilitary forces were reportedly deployed in the Kashmir valley.
The Amarnath Yatra was called off amid statements by the India Army that it had received confirmed intelligence inputs on terrorists backed by Pakistan army trying to disrupt Amarnath Yatra in Jammu and Kashmir.
A week before, the Centre had issued an order for the deployment of additional 10,000 troops of the paramilitary forces comprising the CRPF, BSF, SSB and ITBP in Jammu and Kashmir in order to strengthen the counter-insurgency grid and for maintaining law and order situation in the state.
Recently, the Centre had deployed about 40,000 central paramilitary and state police personnel to secure the 46-day Amarnath Yatra in the state which began on July 1 and will conclude on August 15.
Source: The Statesman
