The Himachal Pradesh Police will take a final decision on activating Village Defence Committees (VDCs) and retaining the 12 high-altitude posts in border areas held by Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel on the recommendation of the committee specially constituted to assess the threat perception from insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir.
The committee headed by Inspector-General of Police (North) has been directed to assess the situation so that a final decision can be taken by the state police whether or not to retain the posts at a height of above 10,000 feet in the Padri Gulli, Kehar, Langera and Bhandal areas overlooking the Doda and Kishtwar areas of Jammu and Kashmir.
In winter, these posts are moved down. Once snow starts melting, the posts are taken to their original locations. The committee will also look into the aspect of activating VDCs, which were constituted in the 1990s, when the threat perception was high. With panchayat representatives and other local residents as members, VDCs maintain surveillance and keep the police informed. VDCs are lying defunct, but have not been disbanded.
The committee has senior officers from the Intelligence Bureau, the state CID and the Chamba police as other members. It has been told to submit its report by December 10 so that steps can be taken to put in place alternative measures once the ITBP withdraws from the area.
The battalion of 600 ITBP personnel guarding the 245-km-long boundary between Chamba and Jammu and Kashmir will be withdrawn completely by December-end. The ITBP had set up 12 posts at heights ranging from 10,000 feet to 13,000 feet to check the infiltration of insurgents from across the porous border, which is sparsely populated. Following the Centre’s evaluation that there was no further threat perception, it was decided to withdraw the ITBP battalion.
Though the Himachal Pradesh Police is of the opinion that there is no real threat from the inter-state border, it will want to go by the opinion of the committee and its recommendations. It will assess various aspects, including the likely threat, population and means of communication and transport in the area. The Centre is bearing an expenditure of Rs 2 crore a year on ITBP forces manning the Chamba border.
The state police has decided to deploy its India Reserve Battalion (IRB) along the border between the two states. The Centre’s decision to depute one IRB for duty in Jammu and Kashmir, which has started moving out, seems to have compounded the problem of the state police.
There were several instances of infiltration by militants into higher reaches of Chamba district in the 1990s, but those were primarily carried out with the objective of seeking a safe haven on account of the pressure exerted by security forces. Militants struck on a few occasions, with the Kalaban-Satrundi massacre on the night of August 2, 1998, in which 35 labourers were shot dead, being the most gory one.
