Govt to raise women battalion to tackle stone pelters in J&K
though army claimed to have ended the encounter in half an hour after the attack. Security forces believe three militants might have been involved in the encounter, while two were killed another managed to escape.
Sources however say, the militant is likely to have been injured.
“The entire operation was over in 35 minutes but we have recovered three AK 47 rifles. The additional rifle means there was one more militant and the search is on for the same,’’ Col Saurab Joshi said.
He said bodies of the two militants were retrieved from the site.
The attack came amid heightened tension across the valley since April 9, when eight people were killed by the police and paramilitary forces during bypolls to the Srinagar constituency.
The Centre is set to raise an all-women India Reserve (IR) battalion consisting of around 1,000 personnel in Jammu and Kashmir. The battalion will assist the state police and will primarily deal with incidents like stone pelting.
The decision was taken in the Kashmir review meeting chaired by Union home minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi on Thursday.
The policewomen will be part of the five India Reserved Battalions (IRBs), the central government has already sanctioned.
“The battalions are tasked by the state but a major chunk of expenditure is borne by the Centre. The Centre has now told the state government to make one among the five an all-women battalion,” said a home ministry official privy to the decision.
The recruitment for the five battalions is already on and as many as 1,40,000 youths in Jammu and Kashmir have applied for 5,000 posts.
“Around 6000 applications were received from women. Therefore, it was decided to raise one battalion only from women applicants.
The decision is in line with the Centre’s directive to increase representation of women in security forces to 33 percent in future,” said the official.
The official said the meeting also reviewed 63 developmental projects from 15 central ministries that are part of the ₹80,000 crore package for Jammu and Kashmir announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in November, 2015.