Omar orders CRPF pullout from agitating Baramulla

Renewed protests in Baramulla that have claimed four lives so far forced the six-month-old Omar Abdullah government on Wednesday to replace CRPF with J&K Police in the garrison town.

“CRPF men stand withdrawn from Baramulla. They have been replaced by local police. We have mobilised additional police personnel to maintain law and order in the town that is under curfew for the past three days,” Baramulla district magistrate Lateef-u-Zaman Dewa said.

This is the first time since insurgency began two decades ago that the responsibility of maintaining law and order of a town has been given to local police. The order to replace CRPF was issued after a youth was shot dead, allegedly by the central force, on Tuesday night.

As the situation turned ugly, the government went into a huddle and decided to remove CRPF. It also decided to act tough on the CRPF jawan who allegedly fired at the protesting crowd, slapping a murder charge on him.

“A case of murder has been registered against the CRPF jawan who reportedly fired without provocation in Khanpora on Tuesday, killing a protester,” a government spokesman said.

CRPF authorities, the spokesman said, had been asked to hand over the accused jawan to Baramulla Police.

CRPF additional director general Karamvir Singh confirmed paramilitary forces had been withdrawn from the garrison town. “There was deployment today. As far as the murder case is concerned, we have only heard about it through the media,” he said.

Meanwhile, protests continued in Baramulla. An angry mob defied curfew and pelted stones at police in the sensitive town on Wednesday.