Rampant unemployment trumps fear for Valley’s future policemen
A rise in response to recruitment drives did not mean containment of the antiIndia sentiment, say observers
Bashir (name changed), a resident of volatile south Kashmir’s Anantnag district, is trained as an electrician from an industrial training institute. He, however, could not get a job based on his specialisation.
On Friday morning, he queued up to take part in a police recruitment drive in an attempt to get a job and support his younger siblings and retired father, who he admitted were unaware of him applying for a police post.
In the last few months, Kashmir has witnessed policemen being killed, their families threatened and their houses ransacked. Despite this, the ongoing Jammu and Kashmir police recruitment drive has seen a high turnout throughout the Valley. Over one lakh candidates have applied for 5,000 posts across the state, and over 50,000 applications have been received from the Kashmir valley itself.
Bashir, along with many other candidates, was wary of getting his face captured by a press photographer or speaking to a reporter. An applicant explained the predicament. “I have not told my friends that I am going for the police recruitment rally. I had kept my file hidden inside the jacket,”
“If the neighbours come to know, they will get angry and will ask me things like ‘why do you want to join the force which commits atrocities on us’? Someone might attack me too or threaten my family,” he said.
He added that the detractors won’t understand his desperation to get a job in a region where unemployment is rampant.
Kashmiri policemen often find themselves stuck between a rock and a hard place. They are attacked by militants and are also despised by a section of civilians who bear a strong anti-India sentiment. The stone-pelter they chase during protests is often a friend or a neighbour.
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.
He, however, conceded that his family will be worried if he joined the police. “Because of the situation here they will be worried if I start working as a cop. But they also want me to get a good job,” he said.
With continued incidents of militants targeting the houses of policemen in the Valley, DGP SP Vaid had last month reportedly asked personnel, especially from south Kashmir, to “preferably avoid visiting their homes for the next few months”.
Political observers said that while the state police was indeed a major employer in the Valley, the overwhelming participation in its recruitment drives did not indicate a containment of the anti-India sentiment in the region.
During the peak of last year’s summer unrest, at least 26,000 youngsters applied for jobs as SPOs – a temporary position in the police with a starting salary of ₹5,000. Many among the applicants, police sources said, had pelted them with stones during the unrest.