Punjab model could help safeguard kin of cops in Kashmir

THE ‘ANONYMITY MODEL’ WAS DISCUSSED AFTER THE PROMULGATION OF GOVERNOR’S RULE IN J&K. THE PROPOSAL DRIVEN BY THE PUNJAB EXPERIENCE AIMED TO SECURE POLICEMEN AND THEREBY THE CONTACTS THEY HAD DEVELOPED IN RECENT MONTHS

took over as Governor from NN Vohra.

The J&K police is a 1.30 lakh strong force that includes 27,000 special police officers.

Of these, nearly 20,000 are from South Kashmir from where family members of policemen have been abducted.

“When the militants target them, they do so to deny the army troops the local intelligence that only the police can gather,” explained Lt. Gen. (retd) Ata Hasnain, former GoC of the Srinagar-based XV Corps.

In his view, the J&K police fought back with great resilience in 2016 when the houses of nearly 50 of them were burnt in the aftermath of Burhan Wani’s killing in an encounter.

Their job, he said, entailed its own hardships and challenges. The army troops move in platoons of 20 to 21; policemen at times have to operate alone with little logistics at their disposal.

From the militants’ standpoint, it makes perfect sense to demoralise the police to dry up their channels of ground-level information when protests are at their peak against attempts to have Article 35 (a) — that confers special rights on State subjects — abrogated through the judicial route.

The administration has, in the words of a local politician, “bought time, not peace” by getting the proceedings deferred in the Supreme Court.

The militancy’s challenge will only grow in the run-up to the impending panchayat polls, he worried.

The administration must do all that’s needed to keep the police’s morale high.