UK police plan Kashmir outpost

The separatist campaign in Kashmir makes it one of the world's danger hotspots

A British police force reportedly plans to set up a station in Indian-administered Kashmir.

West Midlands police claim the new base in Kashmir's capital Srinagar is needed to pursue fugitives who commit crimes in the UK and flee to Kashmir, the Sunday Telegraph says.

If it goes ahead it is believed it will be the first British police outpost in the world.

The force says the station could be a more effective use of the money spent sending detectives between the UK and Kashmir.

But the plan has attracted criticism for aiming to relocate officers to one of the world's most dangerous regions.

More than 500,000 people in the UK are thought to have family links to Kashmir.

'Improving standards'

The newspaper says more than 170 Indian police officers have died there since 1989 in the ongoing campaign by Kashmiris seeking either independence or unification with Pakistan.

However, Sergeant Asghar Shah - the officer behind the scheme - told the newspaper having officers stationed in Kashmir would help tackle murders and financial crimes committed in the UK but linked to the region.

One West Midlands detective has travelled to the region three or four times this year, he said, at a cost of about £5,000 a time.

The station, which would cost about £200,000 to set up and run for a year, would be more cost effective, said Sgt Shah.

It would be manned by up to 28 officers, about half of whom would be British and the rest seconded from Indian forces.

'Desperate local need'

But shadow home secretary Oliver Letwin was dubious.

"One obviously welcomes any initiative to improve law enforcement but it is sad to think that the West Midlands police have to use policemen who are desperately needed in local streets to man an office in Kashmir," he told the paper.

A spokesman for the Indian police welcomed the idea.