Youth beat terror as scores turn up for police job test
MORE THAN ONE LAKH CANDIDATES APPLIED FOR 5,000 POSTS, AND OVER 50,000 APPLICATIONS WERE RECEIVED FROM KASHMIR ITSELF
Besides being attacked by militants, they are despised by a section of the civilians who bear a strong anti-India sentiment. The stone-pelters they chase during protests are often friends or neighbours.
Earlier this month, militants killed five Kashmiri policemen and two local bank guards in an attack on a cash van. But the aspiring policemen appeared to be unfazed by these incidents. “I am not scared. Life and death are in the hands of Allah. I will work for the safety of Kashmiris,” one of them said. The applicant admitted that his family will be worried if he joins the police. “But then, they also want me to get a good job,” he said.
In view of militants increasingly targeting policemen’s houses in the Valley, DGP SP Vaid had reportedly asked personnel — especially those from south Kashmir — to “avoid visiting their homes for the next few months”. While political observers admitted that the state police was indeed a major employer in the Valley, they said the overwhelming response to recruitment drives did not necessarily indicate containment of the antiIndia sentiment in the region.
During the peak of last year’s summer unrest, at least 26,000 youngsters applied for jobs as special police officers — a temporary position in the law enforcement agency with a starting salary of ₹5,000. Sources said many among the applicants had targeted police with stones.