New Delhi: The Centre on Wednesday decided to deploy the Army in Kashmir towns for "deterrent effect" and said the civil administration will decide how to use the force.
The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), which met under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, also decided that the Army would stay in the "periphery" and not be deployed in congested areas, sources said.
The civil administration would decide where to place Army units for restoring law and order. The CCS decided to deploy the Army in Kashmir on Tuesday night because of the wake of deteriorating law and order situation, particularly in Srinagar.
Taking stock of the situation, especially in the light of three deaths due to firing in Srinagar yesterday, the Centre felt that curfew would be strictly enforced and mischief mongers will be put behind bars.
It took note of the fact that the local administration has arrested many mischief mongers. The curfew, the sources said, would be enforced till normalcy restored.
The CCS also decided to send Home Secretary Gopal K Pillai to Srinagar to make an on-the-spot assessment of the situation and report back to the Prime Minister tomorrow.
Last night, at the request of the state government, the Centre decided on deploying army to assist the civil authorities in restoring law and order in the wake of spiralling protests in Srinagar.
The security Cabinet also felt that "maximum crackdown" should be carried out against miscreants. Army staged a flag march in some areas of curfew-bound Srinagar this morning.
Home Minister P Chidambaram, Defence Minister A K Antony, Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrashekar, NSA Shiv Shankar Menon, Home Secretary Pillai, and Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar attended the meeting.
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