The Centre will form an all-woman police battalion in Jammu and Kashmir to tackle stone-pelters, PTI reported on Thursday. Around 1,000 women will be hired for the purpose, the news agency added.

Female students have increasingly been at the forefront of clashes with security forces in the restive state. On Monday, at least 24 people were injured in clashes between security forces and students of Srinagar’s Sri Pratap Higher Secondary School and College. Many of those who threw stones at the security forces were women.

The policewomen will be part of five India Reserve Battalions which have already been sanctioned by the Centre. As many as 1,40,000 youths in Jammu and Kashmir have applied for 5,000 posts in the five battalions to be raised in the state.

The women’s battalion will primarily deal with incidents like stone-pelting in Kashmir Valley and other law and order problems, an unidentified Home Ministry official told PTI.

The issue was brought up at a high-level meeting chaired by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday to discuss a Rs 80,000-crore development package announced for Jammu and Kashmir by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015.

The IRBs are being raised with an aim to provide jobs to the local youths and 60% of vacancies in the new battalions will be filled from the border districts of the state. The cost of raising each battalion is around Rs 61 crore and 75% of it will be provided by the Centre.