Jammu And Kashmir Police Plans Stricter Rules For Hiring Cops From The Valley

Jammu and Kashmir police would go for stricter verification when recruiting cops and may not employ Kashmiris whose relatives in the immediate or distant family are found to have been involved in the militancy in the state.

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In wake of the incidents of policemen deserting the force and joining militants, the newly appointed Inspector General of Police in Kashmir Muneer Khan said that these were unfortunate incidents forcing them to take some stricter measures.

¡°Now, we have observed that these relatives are an influence. We will have to be strict while doing the verification and check the background and family members and also the company an aspirant keeps. This has to be taken seriously,¡± Khan told ET.

Most of these policemen who desert the force, Khan observed, have either a relative who is a terrorist or they have personal acquaintance with terrorists.

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We have observed that relatives are an influence. We will have to be strict while doing verification and check the background and family members and also company an aspirant keeps says Muneer Khan, IG of Police, Kashmir.

In past six years, at least nine policemen have deserted the police force and joined terrorist ranks and taken more than 15 weapons along. Constable Naveed Mushtaq of Nazneenpora Shopian decamped with four rifles and ammunition and joined Hizb ul Mujahideen last week. His cousin Zahid is an active militant.

In 2016, two policemen, Shakoor Ahmad from Shopian and Riyaz Ahmad from Budgam districts, deserted the force in separate incidents and decamped with arms.

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Similarly, in 2015, a senior police constable, Naseer Pandit, who was posted as security a guard of the then R&B Minister Altaf Bukhari, fled with two AK47 rifles and joined terrorist ranks. He was later killed in an encounter.

At one point of time in Kashmir, anybody whose father or brother was involved in militancy was not given a passport or recruited into the police force. However, later, when the situation improved, IGP Khan says, the police administration became lenient as a public welfare measure. The police would recruit people whose relatives were involved in militancy, thinking nobody should bear consequence of the wrong doings of their relatives.

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¡°There was some leniency on spot recruitment. Those were welfare measures in the interest of the public taken by the government, but when you start misusing those measures and betray those measures, then it is not good and it will automatically stop. We have been forced to rethink now,¡± says Khan.

For Khan, the situation is unfortunate rather than a matter of concern.

¡°It is unfortunate that a member of disciplined force, who is paid well and is taken care by all means through welfare measures, is deserting the force. Despite all this, betraying a force is uncalled for.¡±