Disclosing the plan, Director General of Police Gurbachan Jagat also entailed raising three additional reserve police battalions. Two of these will be converted to commando battalions.

However, what may actually turn the tide against militants in their new-found areas of operation in Doda, Kishtwar, Bhaderwah, Poonch and Rajouri -- the police chief hopes -- is Jagat's recommendation to the Government to set up 114 border police posts in these far-flung areas.

The police, claiming to have developed the best network of intelligence, surpassing that of other security forces including the Army and the Border Security Force (BSF), intends to set up the post behind the ones manned by other forces.

This, the DGP said, could be the most important move to stop infiltration from across the border. The police posts could net those who manage to evade the first barrier of Army and the BSF.

Also high on the State police's agenda is the arming of Village Defence Committees (VDCs) in Doda region. Underlining the importance of the move, Jagat held that not a single armed VDC had so far been run over by the militants. ``While we already have 651 armed VDCs in Doda, we intent to raise the number to 900 this year, and to 1,100 eventually,'' he said.

The police, for the first time, has also decided to equip the VDCs with a single-channel wireless system that would be linked to the nearest security post. This was crucial, he explained, as lack of effective communication with the villages made the militants' hit-and-run strikes all the more easier. The news of Prankote massacre, he added, reached the police only after three days.

The wiping out of select population in Doda (as also in Himachal recently) is being seen mainly as the Inter-Services Intelligence's (ISI) way of ethnic cleansing, the targets being Kashmiri Pandits and other Hindus. Jagat admitted that they were facing some problems in providing arms to the VDCs as mainly the people from affected community were being chosen for the job.

In each VDC, he added, 10 to 15 people were provided with 303 rifles, after being trained in the use of weapons by the Army.

The eruption of militancy a decade ago caught the local police off guard. Not used to fighting trained terrorist, they were at a loss psychologically. Their antiquated single-barrel rifles proved no match for the sophisticated AK rifles used by other party. But now this was not so, stressed Jagat. ``The SLRs are fast replacing rifles among our personnel. While the Army has provided us with 2,000 SLRs, another 5,000 have been sanctioned by the Home Ministry. Today, the police is at the forefront of anti-militancy operations throughout the State,'' the DGP said.