The country’s largest counter-insurgency fighting force that has close to one lakh specially trained soldiers is caught in a bind with the government still undecided on giving it a permanent mandate. It is reliably learnt that the Rashtriya Rifles (RR) mandate — the force is currently deployed in Jammu and Kashmir — ran out on September 30 and its renewal is now stuck in inter-ministry wrangling.

While the ministries of Defence and Home as well as the National Security Advisor are learnt to have supported a permanent mandate for the RR, the Finance Ministry has held back, arguing that the force should be granted a five-year extension.

Since 1990, when the force was raised to deal with the rising violence in Kashmir, the RR has been given six extensions, the last being in March this year for a mere six months. This has put the force in a limbo as it is unable to plan ahead and go in for long-term capital acquisitions to modernise troops with new weapons and technologies.

The Finance Ministry has objected to a permanent mandate saying that no “strong justification has arisen in terms of the security situation” that justifies a permanent stature for the 63 battalion-strong RR. Ironically, this objection was conveyed in January this year, barely two months after the Mumbai attacks brought out the vulnerability of the country to terror groups.

While the RR was granted a six-month temporary “administrative” extension in March after this objection by the Finance Ministry, another objection in September has again put the matter off the list of the Cabinet Committee on Security, raising fears in Army HQ about the future of the force.

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