Pulwama attack: MHA denies reports of ignoring CRPF request for air transit facility in Jammu-Srinagar sector

New Delhi: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Sunday clarified that the media reports suggesting that air transit facility on Jammu-Srinagar sector for CRPF troops were not allowed are untrue. “Reports appeared in a section of media that air transit facility on Jammu-Srinagar sector for CRPF troops has not been allowed. These are untrue,” read a statement. [caption id=“attachment_4648481” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh. PTI[/caption] The ministry later went on to clarify that “over the last few years, MHA had significantly enhanced the air courier services for CAPFs in all sectors to help jawans cut down on travel time during their journey to and back from home on leave”. “In the Jammu and Kashmir sector, air courier service for transportation of jawans of Central Armed Paramilitary Forces (CAPFs) are already in operation for quite some time. This included initially the Jammu-Srinagar-Jammu Sector. Later, at the request of the CAPFs in December 2017, the services were extended to Delhi-Jammu-Srinagar-Jammu-Delhi, seven flights a week,” the statement read. MHA stated that “movement of convoys by road for logistical and operational reasons has been and will continue to be necessary”. The ministry’s clarification comes after media reports suggested that the CRPF had requested air transit for the jawans to the MHA earlier this week, but the request was ignored. Around 40 CRPF personnel were killed in Pulwama in an attack orchestrated by Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). The convoy of 78 buses, in which around 2,500 CRPF personnel were travelling from Jammu to Srinagar, came under attack around 3.15 pm at Ladhu Modi Lethpora on 14 February.