‘Fine-tune’ SOP for movement of forces vehicles in J&K

As the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Sunday declared that convoy movement of security forces by road will continue in Jammu and Kashmir, security officials in Srinagar have agreed to “fine-tune” the standard operating procedure (SOP) for the movement of forces’ vehicles.

“The timing of the security forces’ convoy would be fixed such that it is different than the timing when highways and other roads witness peak civilian traffic movement,” an official, who was part of a security review meeting, said.

The meeting was held at the police control room Srinagar, where top police, CRPF and officers from other security agencies were invited to share their views to ensure “smooth convoy movement, especially along the highways.”

The meeting was held in the wake of a suicide bomb attack on a CRPF convoy at Lethpora, Pulwama on Srinagar-Jammu national highway on Thursday, which left 49 paramilitary personnel dead.

“During the meeting, it was decided that civilian vehicles can’t be stopped for a long time as it can trigger a law and order situation. The meeting also discussed bottlenecks in the movement of convoys and various officials suggested measures to remove such bottlenecks,” he said.

On Friday union home minister Rajnath Singh had in Srinagar announced that civilian traffic movement will be stopped for smooth passage of forces’ convoys. Rajnath had admitted that the move would cause inconvenience to the civilians but sought people’s cooperation in this regard.

“From now onwards special emphasis will be laid on the timing of the convoy and it was agreed that most of the convoys would move during early morning and late evening hours,” the official said and added though there is no fixed timing for a convoy movement, “the priority is to allow convoys when there is less flow of civilian traffic.”

Sources said the police would help CRPF in conducting road opening drills before allowing convoy movements. “Road opening parties will get all assistance from the police in manning and clearing road stretches and highways of possible IEDs. The army will play its part as well as it has been doing so,” they said.