CRPF Set to Take Over 21 Army Camps in Jammu's Udhampur-Kathua Belt, COBRA Battalion to Be Deployed

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) is preparing to take over counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism (CI/CT) duties currently handled by the Army in parts of Jammu and Kashmir’s Udhampur and Kathua districts, according to an exclusive report by News18.

Citing a senior official, the report says a formal communication has been issued directing the CRPF to prepare for and facilitate the replacement of Army personnel in designated CI and CT roles, while also strengthening its own presence in the region. As part of this transition, the CRPF is set to take over 21 Army camps in the Udhampur-Kathua belt, with the force’s specialised jungle-warfare unit, COBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action), being deployed to the area.

Part of a broader security rejig

The move builds on a rebalancing of security responsibilities in Jammu that has been underway for some time. Reports from August 2025 had indicated that the Centre had ordered three CRPF battalions to be deployed in the Jammu region as part of a rejig meant to strengthen the counter-terrorist security grid, with these units set to take over from Army Rashtriya Rifles units in Udhampur and Kathua districts while the Army units would be reassigned new tasks.

The broader strategy involves handing over hinterland locations to forces under the Union home ministry, freeing up Army units to focus on the Line of Control and the Line of Actual Control with China. Officials had said that once the CRPF deployment in Udhampur and Kathua was complete, additional areas — including some in the Kashmir Valley — would also be transferred to the paramilitary force.

COBRA’s expanding footprint in J&K

The deployment of a COBRA battalion to the region is consistent with a decision announced in April 2025, when the CRPF said it was raising a new, dedicated CoBRA battalion for counter-terrorist operations in Jammu and Kashmir — the force’s first such unit for the Union Territory, 17 years after the jungle-warfare unit was originally raised to tackle Left Wing Extremism. The announcement had come from CRPF Director General Gyanendra Pratap Singh, acting on directions from Union Home Minister Amit Shah, with the unit intended to operate in the forested terrain of the Jammu region, which has seen a spate of terror incidents in recent years.

Context: a region under pressure

Udhampur and Kathua have witnessed repeated militant activity in recent years, including an ambush on an Army convoy in Kathua in July 2024 that killed five soldiers, and separate attacks on security personnel in Udhampur. The push to reinforce CI/CT capacity in this stretch of the Jammu region reflects the security establishment’s continuing focus on the area even as broader troop realignments take place along India’s borders.