The Ministry of Home Affairs Sunday denied media reports suggesting air-transit facility for CRPF personnel on Jammu-Srinagar sector was not allowed. Calling the reports false, the ministry in a statement said, “Over the last few years, MHA has significantly enhanced the air courier services for Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) in all sectors to help the jawans cut down on travel time during their journey to and fro home on leave.
“In Jammu and Kashmir sector, air courier service for transportation of Jawans have been in operation for quite some time. This included initially the Jammu-Srinagar-Jammu Sector, which at the request of the CAPFs in December 2017 was extended to Delhi-Jammu-Srinagar-Jammu-Delhi with seven flights a week,” the statement added.
“In addition, air support is provided from IAF as and when required. Several sorties were run for CRPF in January 2019,” the MHA added. It is to be noted that Home Minister Rajnath Singh who was in Srinagar after the Pulwama attack had said that in addition to road opening parties sanitising the route before convoy movement, traffic will also be halted on the road during the period. Meanwhile, movement of logistics and personnel is likely to continue through roadways in the valley.
The developments come in the wake of the deadly suicide car bombing attack in Pulwama of Jammu & Kashmir which claimed the lives of 40 CRPF jawans who were heading to join their duties. The attack was carried out by Jaish-e-Mohammad, in which a suicide bomber drove a car loaded with explosives in the CRPF bus, which was part of the 78 vehicle convoy.