Younis Ahmad Kaloo

New Delhi: On July 26, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) commemorated its 78^th anniversary. The day came close on the heels of the recent deadly attack that claimed the lives of 25 CRPF personnel in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma district, and the one on the CRPF vehicle in Kashmir’s Pantha Chowk area in which a sub-inspector fell to militants’ bullets. These recent incidents may have cast a shadow of gloom on the forces but the newly appointed Director General Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar preferred to look at the positives during his media interaction.

Highlighting the achievements of the CRPF, Bhatnagar talked of the force’s exemplary role in Jammu and Kashmir. Sixty battalions are stationed in the state and work in collaboration with the state police and the army to control militancy as well as maintain law and order. This year alone, the CRPF has killed 75 and apprehended 252 militants. Among the notable militants neutralised by the CRPF in the state are Hizbul Mujahideen commander, Sabzar Ahmad Bhat, Lashkar-e-Toiba’s Bashir Lashkari, foreign militant Aquib Ahmad alias Abu Hamza, and others. The DG reiterated that in 95 per cent of the cases, militants have not been able to escape.

On law and order, Bhatnagar said that the incidents of stone-pelting had declined from 1,590 in 2016 to 424 in 2017. “In the recent past, there has been a very close coordinati