No jammers, ambulances for J&K Ex-CMs
SRINAGAR/NEW DELHI: The security cover of four former Jammu and Kashmir chief ministers has been scaled down further with the Union Territory administration’s decision to stop deployment of jammers and ambulances during their movement within Srinagar district, according to officials.
On Saturday, veteran politician and Lok Sabha member Farooq Abdullah, was seen offering prayers at the famous Hazratbal shrine and Dasgeer Saab in downtown Srinagar but there was neither an ambulance nor were there jammers, which, among other things, also blocks signals in cases where terrorists have planted an explosive device that can be triggered by remote control. The ambulance is provided to attend to medical emergencies during travel.
However, the officials, said during inter-district movement of former chief ministers Farooq Abdullah, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti jammers and ambulances will continue to be deployed.
This comes in the wake of the recent decision to downsize the Special Security Group (SSG), which had been created under a law enacted by the assembly of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir for protection of chief ministers and former chief ministers. Subsequently, the SSG cover for the four former chief ministers was withdrawn and their protection entrusted to the security wing of the Jammu and Kashmir Police, which will be backed by central armed paramilitary forces.
Queries to the Jammu and Kashmir Police on the subject elicited no formal response.
The move comes at a time when Srinagar city has been witnessing terrorist-related violence since last year. Many encounters between security forces and militants have taken place within the city’s limits besides some targeted killings of civilians being carried out by the The Resistance Front, a shadow group of the banned terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba.
The decision entailed withdrawal of security cover of National Conference leaders Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah, PDP chief Mehbooba and Congress leader Azad at a time when a number of terror incidents have taken place in Srinagar where all of them except Azad reside.