Amidst tight security, India is set to host the G20 tourism working group meeting in the Kashmir Valley later this month. The three days deliberations of the working group will take place in Srinagar from May 22-24, under the protection of Black Cat Commando of National Security Guard (NSG) as well as MARCOS – marine commandos of the Indian Navy.
The security has been tightened in view of the recent terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir Rajouri sector which left five Indian Army soldiers killed and many injured. Besides the representatives of the G20 countries there will be delegates from international bodies and guest countries who will meet at Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) on the Dal Lake, which is the main venue of the meeting. It is expected that there will be 200 delegates, and this will include delegates from the G20 countries, international bodies as well as delegates from the guest countries.
According to reports, last month an Indian Army Truck was attacked by the terrorists which led to the death of five soldiers and besides this there have been several infiltration attempts by Pakistan based terrorists along LoC (Line of Control) leading to security concerns.
Earlier this month a special meeting of the Jammu Kashmir Police headed by Adl DG Vijay Kumar took place to review the G20 security. Officers of the Indian Army, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF) and intelligence agencies were all present in the meeting where it was decided to deploy Indian Navy’s MARCOS not only at Dal Lake but also at the Jhelum River. And there will be NSG Commandos who will provide the extra security cover to central armed police forces (CAPFs) and the other security forces.
Indian Navy’s marine commandos (MARCOS) are specialised in maritime operations and NSG’s Black Cat Commandos – are country’s anti-hostage Special Forces are going to be deployed in the Valley and this will not be the first time.
About MARCOS
They are highly trained marine commandos of the Indian Navy deployed on every warship to carry out anti-piracy operations in the Arabian Sea to the very recent deployment in Port Sudan as was reported in Financial Express Online.
Why in the Kashmir Valley?
This is not the first time that they will be deployed in the Valley. According to reports in the public domain the first time these marine commandos were deployed in the Valley was back in the mid 1990s at Wular Lake. This lake is 65 sq km long and the terrorists from neighbouring Pakistan would use it as an entry point into the Kashmir Valley. The counter-insurgency grid formed together with Rashtriya Rifles (RR) of the Indian Army and MARCOS in the Wular Lake managed to ensure that there were no more cases of infiltration.
These commandos are specially trained for under-water attacks. Therefore, their deployment in the Valley is very important.
According to sources, NSG is going to be positioned as a back-up for any contingency.