Srirangan

Indian para-military forces deployed in Afghanistan
URL: http://www.india-defence.com/reports/1320
Date: 7/2/2006
Agency: Press Trust of India
Topics: india afghanistan indian army military

New Delhi: Over two months after the killing of a Border Roads Organisation jawan and subsequent threats to some other Indians in Afghanistan, India is sending a large contingent of para-military forces, mainly commandos, to the war-torn country to ensure security of its nationals working there.

The central government has decided to send about 300 personnel of Indo-Tibetan Border Police to Afghanistan for security of the BRO personnel, working on construction of a highway in south of the country between Kandahar and Iran border, official sources told PTI in New Delhi on Tuesday.

Nearly 80 security personnel have already been dispatched and they have begun their duties, they said. The rest will be sent there shortly, the sources said, adding that training in this regard was being imparted to those detailed for the task.

A Commandant-rank officer is also likely be deputed to Afghanistan to oversee the security arrangements. Given the scenario in which protection has to be provided, the ITBP personnel deputed for the task are commandos, specially trained in proximate security, they said.

Till now, a minuscule ITBP contingent of about 20 personnel was posted in Kabul, mainly for protection of the Indian Embassy.

The decision to send the security personnel has been taken on the basis of a report submitted by a high-level team comprising officials of Ministries of External Affairs and Home Affairs, which assessed the threat perception to Indians working in Afghanistan.

The officials had been sent to Afghanistan shortly after the abduction-and-killing of BRO driver M R Kutty at the hands of the Taliban and threats issued to many Indians, working on various developmental projects there.

36-year-old Kutty was abducted on November 20 along with two locals when he was traveling in Kandahar province in South Afghanistan. His body was found three days later dumped by the roadside. The killers of Kutty had left a slip asking BRO to wind up its operations in Afghanistan and leave the country.

Kutty was among the nearly 300 BRO personnel engaged in construction of a 218-km long highway between Delaram and Zaranj in Kandahar Province. Being built by India at a cost of $80 million (Rs 3.6 crore approximately), the road will link Afghanistan's Garland Highway to the Iran border and onwards to the Chahbahar port in Iran, providing a shorter route between Afghanistan and Iran and cutting the distance drastically by 1000 km.

Less than a month after Kutty's killing, Taliban issued death threats to 10 Indians, including doctors, working at various hospitals under a humanitarian aid programme.

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Good to see a Congress government be proactive about protecting Indian interests.

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I rant, therefore I am.

667medic

Now I am sure our neighbour would want to send a similar contingent for the "protection" of its embassy.
I am curious though, why were the ITBP chosen for this role...

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Seek Save Serve Medic

Neo

Don't worry mate, we know our backyard well and know how and when to take control

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Administrator @ Defence.pk

Jay

and ofcourse they are good mountaineers!!

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A grain of wheat eclipsed the sun of Adam !!

Samudra

Like preventing India from supplying biscuits to the poor Afghan children who lost their fathers and brothers ?

Yes, we would like to influence things in Afghanistan.....but we would also like to be civilised.Which is why we are building roads,hospitals and such things.

lemontree

The ITBP is technically a police organisation but its training is military in nature like the BSF, with added emphasis on mountain warfare. I believe the ITBP training is of higher standards than the BSF. It specialises in border management in mountains in the Sino-India LOC.

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Cheers!...on the rocks!!

Endangered

Commandos for Indian workers in Afghanistan

NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 7: A protection force of 100 paramilitary commandos from the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) will shortly be deployed in Afghanistan to beef up security for Indians working in the country.

The decision to increase the security apparatus in Afghanistan was taken after the murder of Border Roads Organisation (BRO) driver M R Kutty by suspected Taliban guerrillas in November last year while on duty on the Delaram-Zaranj roadway project.

The BRO had made a fresh threat assessment in conjunction with the Foreign Ministry and made it clear that more security was an immediate need for the highway to be completed on schedule.

South Block sources indicated that the commandos, who will be deployed in phases, will add to an existing contingent of 40 ITBP personnel who were posted in Afghanistan in 2005 on VIP security duty for the Indian Embassy at Kabul. ITBP chief V K Joshi met with Defence Ministry officials today regarding the deployment.

The commandos will provide patrolling and escort security to BRO and other Indian workers working on infrastructure projects in the country. An official at ITBP said an officer would shortly be appointed to oversee the new security apparatus.

The decision to send the paramilitary troops, trained in batches for search and rescue and proximal security operations, came after a representation made by BRO chief Lt Gen K S Rao to the government that security needed to be beefed up for his organisation’s personnel along the highway project that culminates on the Iran border.

Discussions followed in December between South Block and the Hamid Karzai government in Afghanistan, after which it was decided that the Indian security apparatus would be increased. Following Kutty’s death, continued threats to Indian aid workers in the country cemented the UPA government’s decision to go ahead with a force increase.

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Wild Wild Web

bull

Good news,but decison was rather low key.

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What's the difference between people who pray in church and those who pray in casinos?
The ones in the casinos are serious.