CRPF withdrawn from Kashmir downtown

Srinagar, Apr 25 (UNI) The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has withdrawn its personnel and removed the post near the grand Jamia mosque at Nowhatta in the downtown city after nearly 18 years since the outbreak of violence in the Kashmir valley in 1989.

The post, set up immediately after the outbreak of militancy in Kashmir, has been a target of militants during all these years and attacked on number of occasions.

Several innocent civilians, security personnel and militants had been killed in the bloody attacks during these years.

The personnel of the CRPF's 96 battalion were at present deployed in the post set up in the Kawoosa building at the Nowhatta chowk.

A CRPF spokesman said the company has been shifted to other parts of the Kashmir valley for deployment.

''We have handed over the building to the owners,'' he added.

The post had been first set up by the CRPF which handed it over to the BSF in 1992.

After using the post for more than 14 years, the BSF handed it over to the CRPF again last year.

The BSF was replaced by the CRPF in Kashmir last year.

The CRPF had earlier removed its two huge bunkers -- one at Qamarwari Chowk and the other near Shiraz Cinema -- in the city.

Before that, the Force had removed a bunker near the Women's College on the Maulana Azad Road here.

Sources in the CRPF said many more such bunkers would be removed in the coming days once the top brass approved the proposal.

They said the measures were in consonance with the CRPF's policy to adopt a more friendly approach to win the hearts and minds of the people of Kashmir.

The sources said the CRPF has decided to remove bunkers and posts from the congested areas and also those blocking the roads and leading to traffic snarls in the city.

UNI