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BSF chief blames officers' laxity for hostage crisis

Amberish K Diwanji in New Delhi

The Border Security Force has admitted to a major security lapse on its part, but has blamed the battalion officer for the latest incident in Kupwara where one person was killed and six men were trapped inside a building that has been occupied by extremists.

BSF Director General E N Rammohan told rediff.com that as per unconfirmed reports available with him, at least three terrorists had been killed while the body of one of the BSF men had also been spotted by security personnel.

Rammohan did not expect the six hostages to survive the ordeal. "We don't expect the militants to spare their lives," he said.

The six men trapped inside are a BSF head constable, three constables, one Intelligence Bureau constable and one IB cook.

According to Rammohan, early this morning, six extremists sneaked into a cluster of buildings on the outskirts of Handwara town in Kupwara district. "There are five buildings located there. Two are occupied by a company of the Rashtriya Rifles, two by a company of the Central Reserve Police Force, while the fifth is a central government office. On the top floor of this building, in about half a section, six BSF people stay, along with two Intelligence Bureau people," he said.

The building was guarded by two men, one from the BSF and one from the Central Reserve Police Force. The militants opened fire on them, killing the CRPF jawan and injuring the BSF jawan.

But despite his injuries, the BSF jawan managed to get away from the militants and is now safe. He has been admitted to the 428 Field Ambulance in Kupwara.

Rammohan squarely blamed the officers of the unit for the latest incident. "All the officers have been given strict instructions not to keep any group of men less than a company's strength (about 130 men). The very fact that only six to eight men were staying in this building means orders were not followed," he said.

He said the orders had been passed after the recent incident in Akhnoor where too militants had attacked a security force camp.

Rammohan insisted that there was no systemic failure on the BSF's part, nor had the BSF been infiltrated by sympathisers. Asked how the militants came to know that there were only six people in the building, he said, "The building is just outside the main town and people keep coming and going. Surely in such a place, such information soon becomes public knowledge, giving the militants ample chance to take advantage."

He said he expected the operation to flush out the militants to be over soon. "All necessary measures will be taken," he added.

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