CRPF to change convoy procedures in Kashmir after Pulwama attack, says DG

The Central Reserve Police Force will revise the standard operating procedures (SOPs) used to protect its convoys in Kashmir after the Pulwama attack, in which a suicide bomber blew up an explosives-laden vehicle next to a CRPF bus and killed 40 personnel, Director General R Bhatnagar said on Sunday. He was speaking to PTI after a two-day tour of the Valley following the February 14 attack, the deadliest on security forces in Jammu and Kashmir in three decades.

What will change

Bhatnagar said new features would be added to convoy movements to and from Kashmir. Besides traffic control, timings, halting points and movement would change, in coordination with the Army and the J-K police. Two convoys had already run since the attack at Latoomode in Pulwama, and the new measures were being tested as part of the SOPs. He declined to give details, describing the approach as dynamic and a response to a new threat.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh had earlier said civilian traffic would be restricted when security force convoys were on the move.

The DG said there had been no ambush on any CRPF convoy in the previous two years. He would not discuss intelligence matters, though a senior official said there had been no specific input and such an attack was entirely new for forces in the Valley.

Road and air movement

Asked about flying all troops from Jammu to Srinagar, Bhatnagar said there was no alternative to convoys; air travel could only supplement them. A CRPF official in Srinagar said the convoy on February 14 had moved after a gap of 10 days because the highway had been closed by landslides, leaving a large backlog of personnel at the Jammu transit camp.

Air courier services for the Central Armed Police Forces had been expanded in 2018, and BSF and IAF aircraft are often used as well. A Delhi–Srinagar–Delhi service and a separate Jammu–Srinagar–Jammu flight four days a week have been approved by the Home Ministry, which the DG said would raise capacity to 1,892 seats a week.

During his visit, Bhatnagar met troops in and around Srinagar and visited the blast site, about 20 km from the city. The CRPF, the lead counter-terror force in the state, has about 65,000 personnel in 61 battalions there.

See also: election news.

Originally published on 18 February 2019. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

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