The union government has decided to withdraw the National Security Guard (NSG) from VIP security duties, including the protection of former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad. The move is part of a wider restructuring that will transfer the security responsibilities of nine high-risk VIPs, including Azad, to the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), official sources said Wednesday.
Ghulam Nabi Azad, who currently leads the Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP), has been under ‘Z plus’ category protection since his tenure as a senior political leader in Jammu and Kashmir. Alongside Azad, National Conference (NC) President Farooq Abdullah, another influential J&K politician, will also have his security detail transferred to the CRPF by November.
The transition is part of a broader government initiative to free the NSG from VIP security tasks, allowing it to focus on its original mandate of counter-terrorism and counter-hijack operations. This shift is significant for Jammu and Kashmir, where leaders like Azad and Abdullah have faced heightened security risks post the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.
The transition is part of a broader government initiative to free the NSG from VIP security tasks, allowing it to focus on its original mandate of counter-terrorism and counter-hijack operations. This shift is significant for Jammu and Kashmir, where leaders like Azad and Abdullah have faced heightened security risks post the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.
Sources indicated that the protection of other VIPs like UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu will also be transferred to the CRPF under this new directive. A fresh battalion of CRPF personnel, recently reassigned from Parliament security, will take over these duties.
This move comes after years of debate within the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) about relieving the NSG from non-core tasks, ensuring the commando force focuses on national security threats while the CRPF, which already handles VIP security for key political figures, takes on the additional responsibilities
