Attack didn’t reverse gains: CRPF DG

Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, February 17

Undeterred by the deadly suicide bombing in Pulwama district, the senior-most officer of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) on Sunday said the attack had not reversed the “gains” of the security forces in the last couple of years.

Director General (DG) of the CRPF Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, who has been camping in Kashmir for the past two days, said the force had resolved to face the security challenges with all its might.

“I had been to field formations and met a lot of my officers and men. Their morale and determination is high. This loss has strengthened our resolve and we will work professionally in the best interests of the nation,” Bhatnagar said in a telephonic interview to The Tribune.

Forty CRPF men were killed in the deadliest attack in the last 30 years when a local suicide bomber rammed his vehicle into a CRPF bus at Lethpora along the Srinagar-Jammu national highway in Pulwama district on Thursday.

The CRPF DG spent the entire Saturday with forces in various units in Kashmir to boost the morale of his men.

When asked if the deadliest attack had reversed the gains of forces in the last couple of years, he said it was a one-off incident. “The attack has not at all reversed the gains. It is just one incident and our losses are of course heavy,” he said.

In the wake of the deadly attack, the DG said the security forces were formulating strategies to minimise the (suicide bombing) threat.

“Every tanzeem (outfit) has got foreign as well as local terrorists and we looking at the security scenario. The forces will be taking appropriate steps to deal with whatever inputs are there,” he said.

While questions are being raised on whether there was a security lapse, the DG said prima facie it did not appear that any security lapse had led to the high number of killings.