Paramilitary personnel deserve sympathy: Chidambaram

New Delhi, Jan 31: Home Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday batted for lakhs of paramilitary jawans saying they deserve "sympathy and compassion" from the country as they work under very difficult conditions at the borders and other areas.

He said he expected that incidents of fratricides and suicides in forces like CRPF and BSF will come down as senior officers have been instructed to look into their grievances.

"See, fratricide or suicide is always a regrettable development. CRPF is a very large force. Even if one jawan commits suicide or indulge in fratricide that is regrettable...they work under extreme pressure, difficult conditions and malaria infested forests under stress, under threat, so sometime it happens.

"At the moment all our battalions of BSF, CRPF and ITBP are strechted and they are working under very difficult conditions which is why I always appeal to the civil society and media to treat them with sympathy, compassion and consideration and not attribute all kinds of wrongdoings to them," Chidambaram said when asked about recent incidents of shooting on colleagues and suicides in these forces.

"We are doing our best to counsel jawans. We are telling our commanders (that) they should interact with jawans more, we should try to understand their problems if there are family related stress issues or health related issues or any other issues. They must address them," he said.

"I think the senior officers take this job very seriously. The loss of every life is a sad incident but I sincerely hope that the conditions will improve. They (jawans) are working under very difficult conditions so that you and I can sleep at home peacefully," he said.

PTI