Ramesh Chandra

It is for the first time that the sacrifice of 42 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel at Pulwama in the deadliest terror attack has drawn the attention and united the entire nation. It is also for the first time that major countries across the world have listed their solidarity with India against terror. The incident has the potential of being a game changer in the international arena to polarise countries for and against terror, with economic and militario-diplomatic follow-up. Among other aspects of the issues involved, it provides a small window in time to have a cursory look on the physique of our apparatus — the Central Para-Military Force (CPMFs) — taking a huge call on the internal security of the nation.

While there is public knowledge about defence and state police, CPMFs are lesser understood outfits. The scope for a middle ground between the defence and the traditional policing existed right since pre-Independence days, but the area has rapidly expanded after Independence, especially after the onset of insurgency in northeast states, hotting up of western and northeastern borders of early Sixties, Left-Wing Extremism (LWE) of late Sixties, all India railway strike of 1974, Punjab militancy of early Eighties, resurgence of LWE of central India with improved indoctrination, weaponry and tactics and cross border militancy of Jammu and Kashmir of early to mid-Nineties. These are the years in the history of internal security of the nation when traditional police would have fallen awfully short of strength, training and endurance of the job requirement, and the army of spare numbers and of time required. At such a time, the CPMFs came on the scene and went on multiplying by leaps and bounds in strength and scope of deployment in an effort to measure up to the ever-expanding job requirement.

Site of February CRPF car bomb attack in Pulwama

CAPFs or CPMFs

The CRPF, Border Security Force (BSF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and Assam Rifles etc. are Armed Forces of the Union under the purview of Article 246, (vii) schedule,