A major initiative

17/05/2019

Government has decided to revive the Special Operations Group (SOG) in 9 districts of Jammu region, which was disbanded during PDP-Congress coalition Government in 2002 headed by late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and was in the process of equipping the Anti-terror Group with latest and sophisticated gadgetry including Bullet-Proof vehicles. The decision to revive the SOG, which existed only in Jammu district presently, in all other nine districts of Jammu region, comes close on the heels of attempts by the militants of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), Hizbul Mujahideen and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) outfits to revive militancy in Kishtwar, Doda, Ramban, Rajouri, Poonch and other districts of Jammu region, which had been declared as militancy-free over a decade ago. Presently, the SOG was confined to Jammu district only while in other districts of Jammu region, there was only DySP Operations with very little manpower and virtually no major equipments. The decision to revive the SOG and assign them the role the anti-terror body was having before 2002 when the then Government had disbanded the highly professional operational group against the militants in one of the first decisions taken after takeover of first PDP-Congress coalition Government in the State and the manpower is being searched for the SOG. The new strength of the SOG will be drawn from the police. However, the officials and officers to be posted in the SOG will be trained and professional cops having expertise in the anti-terror operations. Search for such staff from constable to the DySP level is on and it will be completed shortly.
SOG will be equipped with entire modernized equipments including latest weaponry and Bullet-Proof vehicles (known as Bunkers) shortly to help them tackle the threat posed by the terror outfits to revive militancy and go for pro-active approach i.e. to crush the terrorism before it could raise its ugly head. SOG has also been directed to form the Quick Reaction Teams (QRTs), a task assigned to police after the SOGs were disbanded and, for the purpose, adequate numbers of police personnel are being kept at their disposal. They said strength of the SOGs at the district level will be much more than the level of 2002 but it will depend upon the emerging situation at the districts-level. Staff with the SOGs of Kishtwar, Doda and Ramban districts, which formed part of erstwhile Doda district, will be high as compared to other districts. Gradually, they said, level of the SOG strength in all the districts will be brought to the level of Jammu district. Presently, there was full-fledged SOG only in Jammu district, which was headed by an officer of the rank of SP or SSP while in rest of the districts; there was just one DySP Operations with negligible strength, equipments and infrastructure. Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) officials had also recently suggested to the State Government to revive the SOG in the districts, where there was threat of militancy revival and simultaneously raise more Village Defence Committees (VDCs). The militants have already succeeded in reviving militancy in Kishtwar district while a similar attempt was foiled by police in Ramban district only a day before. At least eight militants were presently active in Kishtwar district including the killers of prominent BJP leader Anil Parihar and his brother Ajit Parihar, top RSS functionary Chanderkant Sharma and his PSO Rajinder Kumar.

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