The Uttar Pradesh government is planning to set up an Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) in Deoband, the town in Saharanpur famous for its Islamic seminary, Darul Uloom Deoband. Senior police officers said Deoband was a place of “strategic importance” for the ATS.

In addition to the existing ATS centre in Lucknow, around 2,000 square meters of land has been acquired for the Deoband unit.

In his media briefing, media advisor Shalabh Mani Tripathi explained CM Yogi Adityanath's decision to seek a government appointment as Taliban returns to Afghanistan. His tweet read, “Amid the Taliban’s savagery, here is a piece of news from UP. Yogi Ji has decided to open a commando training centre in Deoband.”

ATS will detach around half a dozen officers from across the state, he added, explaining that the decision causes "pain" to "those who secure terrorists".

On the government’s decision, Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar said, "The government is strengthening STF and ATS.”

“Land has been acquired for this purpose of setting ATS commando training centres at many sensitive and important places from the operational point of view,” he added.

Apart from Deo and Bahraich, other locations where the ATS commands are being trained are Meerut, Bahraich, Shravasti, and Jewar (Gautam Buddh Nagar).

"ATS is setting up units there. Where we get more land, we will set up a training centre there. In Deoband, 2000 sq mt of land has been transferred by the government to the ATS. We will soon start an ATS unit there," Kumar said.

"Deoband is situated at the border of Uttarakhand and Haryana and is important for increasing our strength in Western UP," he said. 

A new commando unit in Deoband will be headed by ATS commandos, said IG, ATS, G K Goswamy.

Mukul Goel, the DGP of Western Uttar Pradesh, said that the ATS needed to be located there, because it is so far away from Lucknow, and Deoband was selected because the land was available.

Special Police Operation Team (SPOT) of the ATS will, along with a small unit for intelligence gathering and small operations, be deployed in the unit.

According to a source familiar with the development, Dog squads, bomb disposal squads, and other elements will be at Deoband. There is also a wireless trapping unit, as well as a combat group. In addition, they disclosed that the project in Deoband was approved two years ago.

Image source: The print