In Ladakh, 1,500 CRPF personnel deployed, says official

Around 1,500 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel are presently deployed in Ladakh to aid the civil administration in securing installations and maintaining law and order, a senior government official said on Tuesday.

Violence erupted in Leh on September 24 during protests to demand constitutional safeguards for the region, leaving four persons, including a Kargil War veteran, dead and around 150 injured, including 57 security personnel.

Out of the total deployment of 1,500 personnel, around 400 were positioned a month before the violence. The total strength of Ladakh Police is 2,452.

“Around 900 personnel were deployed post September 24. Two companies or 200 personnel are in Kargil while the rest are in Leh. We had to send special winter clothing for the personnel later as half of them were airlifted to Leh on the evening of September 24,” said the official.

The official denied allegations that CRPF had fired pellet guns to control the protest on September 24.

“Armed component of CRPF was deployed at installations as requested by the civil administration. For crowd-control measures, we have an anti-riot drill equipment which includes wooden sticks, protective gear and tear-gas munitions. There were no pellet guns with us,” said the official.

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Another official said a CRPF jawan who was hit by a big stone leading to spinal injuries has been shifted to a hospital in Chandigarh.

The Leh Apex Body, the civil society group engaged in dialogue with the Union Home Ministry for the past three years, had said last week that several protesters had pellet gun injuries and the CRPF had fired at protesters without the magistrate’s permission.

There have been several rounds of protests and hunger strikes in Ladakh since 2020, a year after Article 370 of the Constitution was read down.

A month before the violence, around 400 personnel were deployed in Ladakh leading to widespread panic among people. On August 24, Ladakh chief secretary Pawan Kotwal addressed a press conference in Leh stating that the deployment was due to the vast geography of Ladakh and increase in tourism.

Appealing to the public “not to fall prey to misinformation”, he had said that the police augmentation is solely to enhance safety and security of the local people, tourists, VVIPs and to handle increasing incidents of crimes and the drug menace.