Emergency procurement okayed for counter-terrorism ops, 80% terrorists in J&K Pakistani, says Army chief

Under emergency powers, which were first given to the forces after the 2016 Uri attack, the three services can, on their own, ink contracts worth Rs 300 crore each.

Indian Army soldiers in Rajouri district | Photo: ANI

New Delhi: The defence ministry has approved emergency procurement for counter-terror operations because of large-scale induction of regular troops in the Poonch-Rajouri area of Jammu & Kashmir, Indian Army chief General Upendra Dwivedi said Monday.

Emergency procurement powers had started as an interim arrangement after the 2016 Uri attack. These allow the three defence services to ink contracts worth up to Rs 300 crore each on their own, meaning that they are able to circumvent the long-winded process of acquiring new systems for modernisation.

Emergency procurement (EP) has been extended to all three services—Army, Navy and Air Force—four times and they all have gone ahead and acquired multiple offensive and defence systems since then. The last set of emergency procurement came to end in 2023.

For the Army, procurement under these included multi-terrain vehicles, high-mobility reconnaissance vehicles, loitering munitions and drones, among others.

The initial three tranches saw the Army utilising approximately Rs 6,500 crore, and finalising 68 contracts. In EP-IV alone, which spanned from September 2022 to September 2023, more than 70 deals worth nearly Rs 11,000 crore were inked.

While the Army Chief did not give more details of what EP for counter-terrorism ops will entail, sources said the Army will be going in for the latest surveillance systems, tactical drones, bulletproof jackets and helmets, among other things.

They said the contract will also be inked with Indian defence companies.

“A large number of troops had to be suddenly inducted into the Poonch-Rajouri area and they need specialised systems which will now be procured under EP,” a source said.

It is estimated that at least 15,000 extra troops were pumped into the overall Jammu region following a spike in terror incidents.

Speaking at his annual press conference in New Delhi ahead of Army Day on 15 January, Gen Dwivedi said that 60 percent of terrorists killed in Jammu & Kashmir were Pakistani nationals.

“Sixty percent of terrorists killed in Jammu & Kashmir are Pakistani. (Up to) 80 percent of terrorists active there are also Pakistanis at a time when we are moving towards tourism from terrorism,” he said.

He added that the violence was being “orchestrated by the epicentre of terrorism, that is Pakistan”.

“As of now, we have inducted 15,000 additional troops in the year 2024 and that is why you will find that the violence level has gone down, where we have been able to neutralise 73 terrorists,” he said.

(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)