CRPF women commandos all set to deal with stone throwers

Srinagar, July 1

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) is all set to launch a special unit of over 800 women commandos to deal with stone throwers, among whom women are increasingly figuring, in Jammu and Kashmir from mid-July, say officials of the force.

The CRPF, which is handling internal security in Jammu and Kashmir along with the state police, took the step to launch a special women’s unit as the number of women stone throwers is rising in the strife-torn region.

The officials in the 3.5 lakh strong force said the initiative was taken as commandos had to face criticism from human right activists whenever they took action against women stone throwers.

Women commandos are currently getting one-and-a-half month training at CRPF’s Humhuma recruitment training centre here and the force has decided to deploy them with their male colleagues whenever any stone-throwing incident is reported in the Valley.

Like their male counterparts, the women personnel of the unit will be equipped with full body protection suits, helmets, wooden sticks, tear gas shotgun shells as well as pelargonic acid vanillyl amide (PAVA) shells or chilli-filled grenades, plastic bullets and other necessary things used to control the crowd during incidents of stone throwing.

“Stone-throwing incidents have been repeatedly challenging security forces across the state. It is more challenging than militancy,” Zulfiqar Hasan, Inspector General (Operations), CRPF, said.

“We are in the process of launching a special CRPF women commando unit to deal with women as well as men who throw stones. Over 800 women personnel are being trained here for the purpose,” said Hasan.

Asked about the exact time of their deployment, he said, “Our women commandos are about to complete their training. They will be used to deal with stone throwers within 15-20 days.”

“As we had to face denunciation from public and human rights departments for using force against women stone throwers, we thought of raising a women force to deal with the situation. Stone throwers have often been accused of hindering anti-terror operations in Jammu and Kashmir and it has been observed that women have started participating in such incidents in recent times,” said the IG.

Controlling stone-throwing becomes all the more sensitive when women are involved, said another CRPF officer. He said the decision to deploy women commandos would be a big help for the CRPF. “These commandos are being given rigorous training, including being blindfolded to deal with night-time deployment and repairing malfunctioning weapons in under a minute,” he said. — IANS

800 personnel under training 

• Over 800 women personnel are being trained for the purpose
•  The CRPF, which is handling internal security in J&K along with the state police, decided to launch a special women’s unit as the number of women stone throwers is rising in the Valley
•  Commandos of the force had to face criticism from human right activists whenever they took action against women stone throwers