The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), which discussed the situation in Kashmir today, decided to use army as a "deterrent" and that security forces will ensure strict enforcement of curfew.

Sources said the CCS, which was chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, took stock of the situation in the light of the Centre's decision to deploy army in the wake of deteriorating law and order situation.

Last night, at the request of the state government, the Centre decided on deploying army to assist the civil authorities in restoring law and order in the wake of spiralling protests in Srinagar following the killing of three persons yesterday.

The meeting decided that army would be used in "peripheral" areas and not not in congested areas.

It also decided that police and security forces should ensure that there should be no no violation of curfew and that it should be strictly enforced.

The security Cabinet also felt that "maximum crackdown" should be carried out against miscreants.

Army staged a flag march in some areas of curfew-bound Srinagar this morning.

Home Minister P Chidambaram, Defence Minister A K Antony, Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrashekar, NSA Shiv Shankar Menon, Home Secretary G K Pillai, and Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar attended the meeting.

There was no official word on any decision taken at the hour-long meeting.

Earlier, Minister of State for Defence M M Pallam Raju had said that army would remain on the streets in Srinagar till it was necessary but the government would like it to be short.