A senior Home Ministry official informed that, there have been attempts at intrusion into nearly one-third of the camps of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in the Kashmir Valley since last 50 days.

According to the officials,  242 out of the 600 camps in the Valley, have been attacked or targeted for intrusion. The camps were bursting at the seams as 700 companies (approximately 70,000 men) had been deployed in the Valley, a CRPF official posted in Srinagar said.

The official said that, “This type of organized attack was not there in 2010, the last time the Valley erupted in violence. Already 242 camps have been attacked and we have taken extra measures to secure the premises.”

“After the 2010 violence, when more than 100 protesters were killed in police firing, it was decided that the number of boots on the ground should be reduced as a peace measure. We are back at the very posts from where we had withdrawn,” the official said.

“The injuries in the past few days are more than the 1,755 reported in 2010. The situation in the Valley remained more or less peaceful with few incidents of stone-pelting reported from 2011 to 2015. The Jammu and Kashmir Police also have reported over 3,000 injuries. Most jawans have disfigured faces now,” the official said.

“There is no place to sleep in the camps. Though we have made arrangements, the nights are particularly chilly and jawans cannot spend nights in the open. We are running our camps from abandoned buildings,” the official added.

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Nandini