J&K protectees told not to move out without security

After BJP councilor’s murder, police nod must for travel

The authorities in Jammu and Kashmir have completely banned the travel of protected mainstream political activists out of their designated secured accommodations without informing the police or moving out without their personal security officers (PSOs).

“No protectee should go anywhere without PSOs. Visits are allowed only after ground assessment of local threats is done,” a statement issued by Kashmir’s IGP Vijay Kumar reads.

The diktat comes a day after a BJP municipal councillor Rakesh Pandita was gunned down by suspected militants in Tral area of southern Pulwama district.

Late Wednesday night, three gunmen who, the police said, were members of a proscribed militant outfit, targetted Pandita inside the house of his friend and neighbour Mushtaq Ahmad whose daughter identified as Asifa Mushtaq was critically injured in the firing incident at Tral Payeen.

Pandita, a resident of the same area, was for being a protected person putting up at a secured accommodation in capital Srinagar and had been provided with two PSOs by the police but, as was claimed by the authorities, he chose to visit Tral without informing the police authorities and even did not take his PSOs along.

The BJP has termed it a ‘political murder’ that took place due to a ‘security lapse’. A party leader Ashok Koul said, “It is a security lapse. Weren’t the security agencies aware that three unidentified terrorists were roaming in the area? Is this not a security lapse? We agree Rakesh had not taken his PSOs along but the government must admit lapses on its part”. He also said that being a political killing, the incident should not be connected with the return of Kashmiri Pandits to the Valley.