Keeping Up The Guard

Three days after a member of Al-Shuhda's suicide squad almost succeeded in wiping out top officials of the country's most strategic military formation—the Northern Command—army headquarters in New Delhi has decided to review and reinforce safety measures in all its important camps in Kashmir. Lt Gen T.P.S. Brar, who commands the Nagrota-based 16 Corps, has ordered an internal probe into the incident.

The Tanda incident has left the army top brass shaken. In an emergency meeting, they decided to beef up security, and in some cases, restrict civilian entry into some of its vital installations along the j&k border. "Maybe the army needs to equip its soldiers with night-vision devices and also learn lessons from earlier suicide attacks on army camps," says an intelligence official.

The army HQ now plans to increase security in all its camps in the Jammu region similar to its important installations in the Valley. Says one of its generals, "The new measures will include aggressive area domination operations." It means some of the sensitive camps, especially those in constant touch with bases along the LoC, will have multi-layered security. Other safety measures include high barbed wire fencing, iron barricades and aggressive perimeter patrolling.

Army chief Gen N.C. Vij, who accompanied George Fernandes on his Tanda tour, has issued directions to all formation commanders to implement these measures. To minimise collateral damage, directions have been issued to ensure that Quick Reaction Teams are always on standby to back up routine sentry patrolling.