MLA wants raishumari, MLC calls militant Burhan Wani ‘shaheed’

BJP, PDP mute to separatist voices in Assembly; Pawan Gupta attributes Kashmir killings to ‘lowering of guard’ by Mehbooba government

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

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JAMMU, Jan 3: Competitive separatism by the Valley’s mainstream politicians on Monday created a theatre of the absurd Martin Esslin wouldn’t have imagined on the floor of the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council in Jammu and Kashmir which has every member on oath to uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India. New Delhi’s licensed secessionist narrative turned bizarre when the BJP-PDP coalition watched dumbly independent MLA Er. Rashid calling for ‘raishumari’ (plebiscite) and the National Conference (NC) MLC Showkat Hussain Ganai eulogising the Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani as a ‘shaheed’ (martyr).

Those having enjoyed Vishal Bhardwaj’s chutzpah sequence in the Bollywood film Haider—the depressed protagonist at Lalchowk chantingto the crowds iss paar bhi lenge aazadi, uss paar bhi lenge aazadi—were amused to listen to an elected lawmaker. “Raishumari insha allah hokar rahegi. Aaj nahi tau kal ittihas banega” (Plebiscite, God willing, will be held in Jammu and Kashmir. If not today, tomorrow history will be created) the MLA from Langet grumbled on the floor of the Assembly.

Even as a former BJP-associate and MLA of Udhampur Pawan Gupta registered his strong protest and the BJP-PDP chose to remain a mute spectator, Rashid went ahead to claim that the slain militant Burhan Wani and the Lashkar-e-Tayyiba’s J&K chief Abu Dujana were “ruling the hearts” in Kashmir. “You want to rule us at the barrel of the gun”, Rashid shouted on the BJP MLAs and Ministers. “Fact of the matter is that not more than 4,000 Kashmiris participated in Mufti Sayeed’s funeral while as thousands and lakhs of them attended Burhan’s and (former LeT chief) Abu Qasim’s last rites”, Rashid asserted.

“What are you guys going to get out of this rhetoric of the domicile certificate? See 25 of this House’s seats are lying here vacant for that part of the State since decades. If the Parliament has passed a resolution of getting back that part of Kashmir in 1995, why didn’t you get it back in 20 years? You are concerned about nothing but elections in Kashmir. Once you hold them, you forget about everything. Your slumber breaks when turbulence crashes into your face. Then you send envoys and interlocutors to Valley to touch Geelani’s feet. You have messed up things. With this irresponsible behaviour, Kashmir has slipped out of everybody’s hand. If Geelani will tread a single step toward you, Kashmiris today will burn down his house. You people are responsible for every drop of blood being shed in Kashmir”, Rashid shouted.

Rashid contended that successive governments in New Delhi had created and perpetuated an atmosphere of political uncertainty with deceitful rhetoric, leading generation after generation to believe that the State’s borders would be redrawn one day. He alleged that nothing but expediency and convenience were the cornerstones of the alliance between BJP and PDP that, according to him, had been driving in opposite directions in Jammu and Srinagar. There was no ideological symmetry or commitment, he claimed.

“Here in Jammu, you BJP guys call Burhan a terrorist. I dare a single PDP member get up and call him a terrorist”, Rashid challenged the principal ruling party whose MLA of Tral Mushtaq Ahmad Shah in July was the first mainstream leader to describe Burhan as a martyr and “popular crusader”. He referred to the dichotomy about Burhan between the statements of Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister.

“If you people get 80% of the Kashmiris to vote in elections; if you people claim that only 5% Kashmiris are shouting for aazadi, why don’t you hold a referendum in Jammu and Kashmir?”, Rashid addressed the Treasury benches before he was marshalled out during an altercation with the former Minister and MLA Pawan Gupta. Pawan and a couple of the BJP MLAs shouted on Rashid that he should go to live in Pakistan.

In his hard-hitting speech, during the special discussion on the 2016 turmoil, Pawan assailed BJP for the volte face after becoming a partner in the government with PDP. He alleged that the BJP-led Centre had remained permissive and tolerant to competitive separatism for PDP’s pleasure and things had deteriorated to the extent that even the elected legislators, who were on oath to protect the sovereignty and integrity of India, were now outsmarting the Hurriyat with their secessionist rhetoric on the floor of the House.

“Why are you guys mute to their allegation that over 100 people were killed in Kashmir by our Police and security forces? The fact is that your government has lowered the guard in Kashmir and allowed a combination of separatism and terrorism to revive. These are only the consequences of your helplessness and incompetence”, Pawan addressed the BJP fold.

Parallel to the drama in Assembly, NC’s MLC Showkat Hussain Ganai in Legislative Council described Burhan Wani as a "shaheed” (martyr). “Kashmiris will continue to pick up guns and sacrifice their life fighting until the issue is resolved,” Ganai said.

PDP MLC Firdous Tak interrupted Ganai and asked him to clarify if it was his party’s stand. “The statement of the member is very sensitive. This massage would go outside. So he must realize what he is speaking in the House.”

“I am fully aware about the place where I am saying it and I stand by each word I said about Burhan Wani”, Ganai asserted in response to the PDP MLC. “Burhan was a freedom fighter, a martyr and this is the thinking of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, not mine alone”, he said. According to him even the Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin had crossed over to Pakistan “for finding resolution of the long-pending Kashmir dispute, not for contesting elections”.

END

[STATE TIMES January 4, 2016]

Governor, CM forced to cut short their speeches in Assembly

·       Vohra speaks of the Kashmiris ‘killed by a tear gas shell or blinded by pellets’, leaves while national anthem was on

·       NC-Congress MLAs corner Mehbooba over her reference to 1987 polls, claim Mufti Sayeed was driver of that ‘rigging’

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

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JAMMU, Jan 2: The Jammu and Kashmir Legislature’s Budget session commenced in the winter capital on Monday with Governor Narendra Nath Vohra’s ceremonial address jointly to the both Houses even as he was forced by an uproarious opposition to cut short his speech before Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti faced a similar situation in Assembly.

As soon as Mr Vohra began reading out a 69-paragraph speech approved by the Cabinet, entire opposition in the Central Hall got up to protest ‘bloodshed in Kashmir’, domicile certificates to the PoK refugees and ‘failure on all fronts’ of the PDP-BJP Government. Members shouted slogans, waved placards and did not allow Governor to proceed with his address.

For about 7 minutes, Mr Vohra continued reading out his speech in the din without regard to the opposition’s pandemonium. Thereafter he stood mute for 5 minutes. The visibly upset, Governor suddenly jumped to the concluding paragraph numbers 68 and 69. As the national anthem began playing and the opposition stood shouting, Mr Vohra walked out the House and drove straight to Raj Bhawan.

Even the ruling BJP MLAs like the vociferous Ravinder Raina objected to Governor’s behaviour and told mediapersons that Mr Vohra should not have moved while the national anthem was on. They complained that the opposition as well as the Governor had shown “disrespect” to the national anthem, probably for the first tie in the history of the State Legislature.

Governor’s address stressed on reconciliation and healing touch with special references to the five-month-long cataclysm witnessed in the Valley after the Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani’s death in an encounter on July 8 in 2016. Around 90 persons, including some Policemen, got killed and thousands of civilian protesters and security forces personnel injured in hundreds of clashes, crippling every activity including transport, businesses, tourism, education, telecommunication and development.

“For the last few years, from around 2008, social order has been targeted and this has posed a far bigger challenge than any of the earlier ones. I am confident that we shall not allow the weave and weft of our social fabric to be affected in the name of religion or ethnicity”, Mr Vohra said.

“It is in our interest to urgently embark on this mission, particularly to protect the psyche of the incoming generation from being fractured by the unprecedented civil strife, political disruption and chaos which we have seen in the State, while enormous progress has been taking place in other parts of our country. No responsible society can afford to stand by and see the alienation of its youth”, Mr Vohra said. “Let us not forget that our young people, aged from 15 to 30 years, account for around 40 per cent of our total population”, he added.

Governor said: “The loss of lives in the past six months is most unfortunate and regrettable. The irreparable pain of losing someone we love is not unknown to us. While the political rhetoric may result in keeping us at odds, our grief brings us together — whether of a mother who has lost her young soldier son on duty at the line of control or of a mother whose child has been killed by a tear gas shell or blinded by pellets”.

“While hundreds were injured, civilians, Police and paramilitary forces personnel lost their lives. I share the grief of all the families who have lost their loved ones and pray for the early recovery of all those who were injured”, Governor said.

After the Governor’s address ended at a turbulent note, both Houses of Legislature started routine business with the obituary references while paying tributes to the former Governor Lt Gen (retd.) S.K. Sinha, former State Congress President and Governor of some States Mohammad Shafi Qureishi, former Deputy Chief Minister Mangat Ram Sharma and five other politicians who had served as legislators and passed away after the Legislature’s summer session.

In Assembly, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti invited trouble for herself with her tangential reference to the “days when some people were fighting for Plebiscite, which they finally dismissed as waywardness, and leaders like Qureishi Sahab and Mufti Sahab laid the foundation stone on the national mainstream party in Kashmir”. It evoked some hostile reactions from NC but she went on: “These very people rigged the elections in 1987 and created the unending militancy”.

NC’s MLAs, most vociferously Abdul Majid Larmi of Homeshalibugh, shouted on Mehbooba with the rejoinder that if her allegation of rigging was correct, her father late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was equally involved and responsible. “Madame, stand corrected that in 1987 Mufti Sahab was an important leader in Congress and thus no less responsible for the rigging than NC and Congress”, Larmi shouted with the support of solidarity from other MLAs of the two opposition parties who had earlier staged a walk out.

As the ruckus refused to die down, Chief Minister hastily concluded her speech and Speaker Kavinder Gupta signed off the business.

END

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West Pak refugees will continue to be non-State subjects: Vohra

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

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JAMMU, Jan 2: In his address to J&K Legislature on Monday, Governor N.N. Vohra clarified that issuance of domicile certificate would in no way affect the State’s laws about the permanent residents and asserted that the West Pakistan refugees settled in Jammu would continue to be the non-State subjects.

“Yet another issue that is being played up is the issue of West Pakistan Refugees. As a part of the Agenda of Alliance (between PDP and BJP) it was decided to sympathetically deal with this humanitarian issue. The State Government has facilitated their identification to enable them to get work in the paramilitary forces and other Central Government establishments. This identification does not change the status of the West Pakistan Refugees; they continue to be non-State subjects”, Governor said in para-66 of his address.

As regards Government of India’s support to the PoK refugees, Governor said: “In order to extend monetary support to Displaced Persons of PoK (1947) as well as the Displaced Persons of Chhamb (1965 and 1971), an immediate settlement at the rate of Rs 5.50 lakh has been provided in favour of each of the 36,384 families who have been found eligible through the laid down procedure”.

END

[STATE TIMES January 3, 2017]

Timber smugglers attack Forest party in Sopore; 15 officials injured, 6 vehicles damaged

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

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JAMMU, Jan 1: Fifteen officials of Forest Department were injured and six vehicles damaged when timber smugglers in Sopore area of Baramulla district, in northern Kashmir, attacked them during a series of raids in Rampora forests.

Officials in Sopore told STATE TIMES that immediately after receiving SOS from the Forest party, a Police team swung into action and got the badly trapped rescued from Rampora Rajpora forest cover of Kandi in the evening on Sunday. Case FIR No: 2/2017 has been registered against the assailants who are said to have damaged six vehicles and caused injuries to 15 officials of Forest Department and Forest Protection Force (FPF). Sources said that the accused named by the complainants would be arrested and some of them could be detained under Public Safety Act.

DFO Kamraj, Mohammad Ayub Sheikh, told STATE TIMES over telephone from Sopore that on specific information he had earlier on Sunday organised a major raid on the houses of the timber smugglers and the people who were known to have dumped the illegally felled trees and timber on their premises. DFO Langate Mohammad Ayub Pandit and Deputy Directors of FPF units of Kupwara and Baramulla were also in the raiding party comprising 100 to 150 officials.

“As we recovered a quantity of the illegally acquired timber from some houses, the timber smugglers along with the residents mounted an organised attack on our party. They attacked our officials with lathis, axes, sharp-edged weapons and stones and left 15 of us injured. Six of our vehicles, including two private Tata Sumo vehicles, were badly damaged in the attack. One of our critically injured employees was prevented from reaching the hospital and held in wrongful confinement. A Police official in that area provided us shelter till we contacted SDM Sopore, Sopore Police and CCF Kashmir through a WiLL phone as there is no mobile connectivity in that area. Thereafter a Police party arrived in and it rescued it”, DFO Kamraj Mr Sheikh said.

DFO Kamraj added that with the help of the Police party, his team persisted with the raid and seized around 130 cubic-foot of timber from several houses. He said that the injured were evacuated and later treated at Sopore. “We have prepared PSA detention cases against 10 timber smugglers and their helpers. We are submitting these cases to DC Baramulla tomorrow”, Mr Sheikh added. He said that Rampora was a notorious hub of the timber smugglers where the illegal felling of conifer trees and timber smuggling had not been fully neutralised, notwithstanding several raids and seizures and detentions under PSA in the last 10 years.

END

Massarat Alam released, re-arrested in another case

PDP-BJP coalition under fire for booking Alam on faulty grounds, “lackadaisical pursuance” of his case in High Court

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

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JAMMU, Dec 29: Icon of the over four-month-long street turbulence of the year 2010 in Kashmir valley and a senior leader of the separatist group Muslim League, Massarat Alam Bhat, whose release in 2015 by Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s government had triggered off a major controversy at national level in the country, was released from a jail in Kathua on Thursday but re-arrested quickly in a different case registered against him in the Valley.

Official sources said that Bhat was released from a jail in Kathua two days after Mr Justice Muzaffar Hussain Attar of the Jammu and High Court quashed his detention under the preventive law Public Safety Act (PSA) and ordered his release.

Sources said that Bhat was subsequently taken into custody and whisked away to a temporary detention centre of counterinsurgency wing of J&K Police (CIJ)in Miran sahib area of Ranbir Singhpura, Jammu. He was likely to be handed over to Kashmir Police who have reportedly sought his detention in a criminal matter.

Inspector General of Police, Kashmir, Syed Javaid Mujtaba Gillani told STATE TIMES that Bhat was arrested in a different case. “We have arrested him in a different case. There are several cases registered against him in which he is wanted in Kashmir”, IGP Kashmir asserted.

After over five years of continued detention, Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s PDP-BJP Government had released Bhat within days of assuming office in March 2015. He was, however, re-arrested and detained under PSA when his release triggered off a political controversy and immediately thereafter he organised a massive pro-Pakistan and anti-India demonstration in reception of the separatist hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani outside the office of the Director General of Police on Srinagar Airport Road. "Haafiz Sayeed ka kya paigaam: Kashmir banega Pakistan" was Alam's lead slogan in the rally that waved a profusion of the Pakistani flags and set the tone for a new upheaval in the Valley.

As the courts quashed all of his PSA detentions and some orders expired, in the currently year Bhat was again detained under PSA on the charge that some separatist activists had deceitfully met him inside a jail in Baramulla in the month of August and received from him directions to strengthen the then blooming Burhan Wani turbulence across the Valley. His counsels challenged the detention in J&K High Court.

In the High Court junior Government advocates pursued and defended Bhat’s detention. On the other hand, senior advocate Mian Abdul Qayoom argued strongly against the detention and the State government lost its case on Tuesday when Justice Attar announced the judgment that had been reserved in the previous week. He ordered Bhat’s release “forthwith”.

Agreeing with the defence counsel, Justice Attar observed that the grounds of detention mentioned by the detaining authority (District Magistrate of Baramulla) were invalid and not sufficient to warrant preventive detention of any citizen. He observed that if four visitors had met Massarat Alam inside his Barrack No:8 in Sub Jail Baramulla instead of the detainee of Barack No: 7, Assadullah Parray of Hajan, who they had mentioned in the entry, Bhat could not be held responsible for meeting them.

“The allegation in the FIR and statements of all these Police personnel would, prima facie, show that all the Police authorities, posted at Sub Jail Baramulla, have failed to discharge their duties in accordance with law because it was within the competence and authority of these Police personnel to ensure that the visitors would meet only Shri Assadullah Parray, for meeting with whom they had sought permission and not the detenue (Bhat). The record does not show whether those persons have been arraigned as accused in FIR No: 258/2016 dated 3oth August, 2016. No material is placed on record to suggest that all those persons, after allegedly meeting the detenue, did actually indulge in such activities, which would either adversely impact security of the State or the public order. The record further does not show that what actually transpired between the detenue and those four persons in the alleged meeting they had with each other in the jail premises”, Justice Attar observed.

“The democratic societies not only swear but live by democratic values and principles. Even in the face of extreme provocations, the laws of the land are to be implemented. Laws possess unique quality, in as much as, they, even at times, protect those who break them. Thus they prove better than many human beings”, Justice Attar noted in his order, illustrating difference between a criminal detention and a preventive custody. He asserted that liberty of every citizen had been guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution.

END

[Published in today's STATE TIMES]

First time in J&K’s history: CS, DGP from Jammu

Ahmed Ali Fayyyaz

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JAMMU, Dec 28: For the first time in the history of Jammu and Kashmir since 1947, the State will be having both, Chief Secretary as well as Director General of Police, from Jammu province. And the distinction has by coincidence come at a time when BJP is ruling at the Centre and also partner in the coalition with the Kashmir-centric Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

With the appointment of Dr Shesh Pal Vaid (IPS-1986) as DGP in a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, J&K on January 1, 2017, will be having its heads of bureaucracy and Police both from Jammu. On September 1, 2015, Mr B.R. Sharma (IAS-1986) had taken over as Chief Secretary during Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s PDP-BJP rule.

In the last 70 years, sons of soil in J&K have been simultaneously heads of the State bureaucracy and Police for 7 times — often for brief periods. While as the CS and DGP have been simultaneously four times from Kashmir, both have been never from Jammu.

For three days, from January 1 to January 3, Jammu will also retain the honour of having Chief Justice of India (Tirath Singh Thakur) from the province. In the post-47 history, Jammu has had one CJI (Dr Adarsh Sen Anand) and one Army chief (Gen N.C. Vij) from the Dogra heartland.

In 1954-1956, Chief Secretary Pir Ghulam Ahmad was from Kashmir and IGP (then designation of the State Police chief) Lt Col Baldev Singh Samial was from Jammu. In 1963-1964, Pir Ghulam Ahmad served as Chief Secretary briefly with IGP L.D. Thakur of Jammu.

In 1978-1979, Syed Muzaffar Aga of Kashmir served as CS and D.N. Kaul of Kashmir as IGP. In 1979-1980, Syed Muzaffar Aga was CS and Peer Ghulam Hassan Shah of Kashmir IGP. In 1980-1982, Noor Mohammad of Kashmir served as CS and Peer Ghulam Hassan Shah as IGP/DGP. In 1984-1985, Mir Nasrullah of Kashmir functioned as CS and Peer Ghulam Hassan Shah as DGP. Finally in 2007-2008, it was for a brief period that both CS (B.R. Kundal of Jammu) and DGP (Kuldeep Khuda of Kashmir) were permanent residents of the State.

Of the 12 State subject Chief Secretaries, 8 have been from Kashmir, three from Jammu and one from Ladakh. While as Pir Ghulam Ahmad served as CS from 14-06-1954 to 7-03-1964, the Chief Secretary’s seat was retained by P.N. Kaul from 27-03-1977 to 01-01-1978, S.M. Aga from 20-01-1978 to 30-04-1980, Noor Mohammad from 01-05-1980 to 31-12-1983, Mir Nasrullah from 01-01-1984 to 31-01-1986, Sheikh Ghulam Rasool from 21-09-1992 to 15-04-1994, S.S. Bloeria from 30-09-2002 to 31-07-2005, Vijay Bakaya from 01-08-2005 to 31-05-2006, C. Phonsog from 03-05-2006 to 31-10-2007, B.R. Kundal from 01-11-2007 to 02-06-2008 and Iqbal Khanday from 18-02-2013 to 31-08-2015. B.R. Sharma is functioning as CS since 01-09-2015.

Of the 8 State subject IGPs/DGPs in the 143-year-long history of J&K Police, 4 each have been from Kashmir and Jammu. Vaid is the 9th State subject and 5th from Jammu province to head the over 100,000-strong Police organisation. With total strength of 1,000 village watchmen, J&K Police had been informally raised by Maharaja in 1873. It had one head (Kotwal) and 14 Thanedars (SHOs), all in Srinagar. In 1913, an IP officer, Mr Broadway, borrowed from the British India government, was appointed its first IGP. In 1947, J&K Police was a 3,300-strong organisation. From 1913 to 1947, only one State subject, Col. Gandarabh Singh (1927-1931) functioned as IGP.

In the post-accession history, Lt Col Baldev Singh Samial of Jammu acted as IG of J&K Police from 01-11-1954 to 30-10-1956, L.D. Thakur of Jammu from 30-09-1963 to 27-07-1966, D.N. Kaul of Kashmir from 02-09-1977 to 03-09-1979 and Peer Ghulam Hassan Shah of Kashmir from 01-10-1979 to 24-05-1982. Mr Shah was designated as the first DGP on 25-05-1982 and he functioned as head of the state Police till 16-01-1985 when he had completed six months of his two-year extension but quit in protest as Ghulam Mohammad Shah’s government marginalised him to the ex-cadre position of Transport Commissioner. Thereafter Manmohan Khanjuria of Jammu served as DGP from 16-01-1985 to 20-05-1986.

Upon Khajuria’s retirement from service, Governor Jagmohan brought in Francis Thomas Raphael Colaso as DGP of J&K though he was only 49 year old and had not completed even 25 years of service in IPS. When he went back to the Centre on 21-05-1987, he was posted as IG in BSF. Just 6 months short of his retirement, he was appointed as DGP in his home State of Karnataka in 1995.

Ghulam Jeelani Pandit of Kashmir took over as DGP on 21-05-1987 and held that position till 20-12-1989. For 18 years, nobody from J&K headed J&K Police. Finally, Kuldeep Khuda of Kashmir served as DGP from 18-07-2007 to 31-05-2012.

END

[Published in today's STATE TIMES]

With Vaid, Mishra and Sahai in the race, Cabinet may pick up new DGP on Wednesday

Promoted IGPs likely to get posting, Uttam Chand may be cleared for Central deputation

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

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JAMMU, Dec 26: Before the outgoing Police chief K Rajendra Kumar’s three-month extension would end on December 31, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti in coordination with the BJP-led Centre is likely to pick up new Director General for the Jammu and Kashmir Police in a Cabinet meeting on December 28.

Well-placed sources in the coalition government insist that an interaction was already in progress between Ms Mufti and the Government of India, which could also take on board State and Central leadership of the BJP, for the appointment of the new DGP. If the sources are to be believed, names of three senior IPS officers of J&K cadre are currently under consideration and the consensus on the final choice could be churned out on Tuesday.

Sources said that senior BJP leaders Amit Shah and Ram Madhav were in favour of entertaining recommendations and objections from the State BJP leaders, even as the Central bureaucracy would like the exercise to remain “purely professional” with focus on seniority, suitability and individual merits and demerits of the three shortlisted candidates.

According to sources, DGP Coordination and Law & Order, Dr Shesh Pal Vaid (IPS-1986), DG Prisons S.K. Mishra (IPS-1985) and Shiv Murari Sahai (IPS-1987) were the three frontrunners. Of the three, Vaid has the advantage of being a son of the soil while as Mishra has the advantage of being the senior most IPS officer on the ladder after Rajendra and Sahai is rated exceptionally competent and experienced in handling the secessionist strife and cross-border terrorism.

Appointed in the prestigious National Security Council Secretariat in the Union Government earlier this year, Sahai is reportedly enjoying support from the National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Deputy NSA and former Director of Intelligence Bureau Syed Asif Ibrahim, who is currently PM's special envoy to West Asia and Pakistan-Afghanistan region. Sahai has successfully served twice as IGP Kashmir, ADG Armed and ADG CID after holding key positions as SP and SSP in the executive Police in Kashmir. However, during the Burhan Wani turbulence, he had fallen out of the ring of favour and confidence of some influential Ministers and bureaucrats for his alleged proximity to a particular Cabinet Minister of Ms Mufti’s party.

Sahai’s real disadvantage, however, would be his being junior to five IPS officers, namely S.K. Mishra, S.P Vaid, D.R. Doley (1986), Navin Agarwal (1986) and V.K. Singh (1987). Of them, Doley and Agarwal are currently on Central deputation and V.K. Singh is ADG Headquarters.

Mishra has successfully served as SSP Srinagar in 1997-98 and lately completely an impressive term with BSF during which he played a key role in resolving India’s border dispute with Bangladesh. However, his disadvantage is his prolonged Central deputation during which his liaison with the officers and politicians in J&K, besides his practical knowledge of the people and their changing political sensibilities, remained minimal. He is rated as an unassuming, no-nonsense officer and a man of high integrity who has never landed in any controversy.

Apart from being the only son of the soil and a favourite of many of the influential Ministers in the two ruling parties, Vaid has the distinction of having served as SP, SSP, DIG and IGP in the most challenging circumstances. He has fought militancy from the front and once survived a deadly militant ambush when, as DIG North Kashmir, he was returning at midnight to Baramulla from Srinagar. He was injured in that attack near Hygam. Significantly, within a brief period, he was recalled from his posting of DG Prison and appointed back as DGP Coordination and Law & Order at Police Headquarters recently---a clear indication of his elevation to the top rung on the ladder after end of Rajendra’s extension.

Of the seven top officers, Mishra is due for retirement on Feb 28, 2019, while as Vaid would reach superannuation on October 10, 2019, Doley on May 31, 2019, Agarwal on July 31, 2021, V.K. Singh on September 30, 2021, and Sahai on March 31, 2023. VK Singh and Sahai would be completing the qualifying service for appointment as DGP in 2017.

Sources said that after necessary off-the-screen interactions between PDP and BJP, Cabinet was likely to pick up Mr Rajendra’s successor on Wednesday.  

Sources said that at least five DIGs, who had been promoted as IGP several months back, were likely to be given new postings in the December 28 meeting which could also clear Central deputation of Uttam Chand, DIG North Kashmir, for his subsequent posting in RAW.

END

[Published in today’s STATE TIMES]

Good for PDP, bad for BJP: Centre orders withdrawal of 40 CRPF companies from J&K

Officials quote ‘improvement in situation, deployment for Punjab, UP elections’ as the reason

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

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JAMMU, Dec 25: With the situation improving in Kashmir valley and the Assembly elections in Punjab and UP drawing nearer, Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has ordered withdrawal of 40 CRPF companies from Jammu and Kashmir.

According to a communication received in the offices of the top Police and paramilitary officers in J&K on December 23, Government of India has ordered withdrawal of 40 companies of CRPF with effect from January 2, 2017. It has not specified the reason or purpose but emphasised that the paramilitary personnel of Punjab, UP, South India and North East based battalions should be withdrawn from J&K in the first phase of relocation.

Officials unwilling to being identified revealed to STATE TIMES that an exercise had immediately begun to identify and withdraw the CRPF personnel who had been specially deployed in J&K for strengthening the law and order bandobust in the wake of the summer turbulence, triggered by the Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani’s killing in an encounter on July 8. Thousands of the paramilitary personnel have already been withdrawn or immobilised after getting injured in the street turbulence for around five months in the Valley.

Even as the officials claimed that withdrawal of the 40 companies of CRPF from J&K was sequel to “improvement of law and order situation in the Valley besides security arrangements for some States, particularly Punjab and UP, politicians affiliated to the ruling outfit Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) insisted that the exercise had been launched on sustained insistence from Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti.

“This will come as a short in the arm in PDP as we can claim credit that the forces involved in killing of 90 persons and causing fractures and injuries to over 10,000 Kashmiris were being recalled from the Valley. This is part of the demilitarisation we have been demanding. This is good news for us as Mehboobaji has struggled a lot for it”, said a PDP leader. “A number of the camps have been closed down. CRPF has been relocated from different government and public building including a major educational institute lately in Habbakadal-Fatehkadal area in Srinagar. Amar Singh Club and Indoor Stadium are also being cleared of the CRPF in near future”.

Withdrawal of the 40 CRPF companies from J&K could come as a breather for PDP that has encountered unenviable conditions after allying with BJP for formation of the coalition and the Government in 2015.

END

[Published in today’s STATE TIMES]