Pampore encounter: Army slams reports of friction with CRPF for 'credit'

The Indian Army on Tuesday slammed the reports floating around, that there had been friction between them and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) on the handling of the terrorists in the Pampore encounter and asserted that there was no question of any agency squabbling for credit under any circumstances.

In a statement released today, the Army Northern Command said that the success in the operation was due to the 'synergy' between both security forces.

"Certain sections of the media have reported about friction between the Army and CRPF on handling of the terrorist initiated incident at Pampore, Kashmir. It is a well known fact that all security agencies operating in Jammu and Kashmir have established outstanding synergy in their focused efforts to thwart nefarious designs of anti-national forces," the statement said.

The Army further stated that the success in the Pampore encounter is a testimony to the synergy and jointness, that the overall security situation has shown a remarkable improvement from its peak militancy levels.

"Eight brave soldiers have made the supreme sacrifice for the larger cause of peace. It is time to look at greater integration and synergy to minimise losses to our forces, which is exactly what is being done," the Army said.

Asserting that there is no question of any agency squabbling for credit under such circumstances, the Army further said that reporting on differences between Army and CRPF is unhelpful and does no credit to the manner in which all security forces and intelligence agencies are working in challenging conditions.