State police surmounting challenge after challenge

Arun Joshi

In March 1999, police constable Mushtaq Ahmad was on duty at Srinagar’s historic Lal Chowk when he spotted armed militants in an autorickshaw. Mushtaq signalled the autorickshaw to stop but the driver kept on driving. The cop gave a hot chase and the militants opened a volley of fire. Mushtaq was fatally wounded. He was buried in his village in Anantnag district of south Kashmir.

This became the defining moment for the Jammu and Kashmir Police. The local affinity till then between the Kashmir police and militants collapsed. Militants suddenly were put in the frame of enemies of the nation.

Mushtaq became a strong symbol of the transformation of the police force that believed in willingly and fiercely fighting militancy in Kashmir. This was an unexpected change.

Kashmiris discovered that militants could be fought by the local police and policemen were willing to make sacrifices to save the people. Earlier, too, the state policemen had made sacrifices, but most of the times they were killed by militants in their homes, outside mosques, and not while giving chase to militants. A new awakening also dawned on the policemen that they had to save Kashmir from the scourge of militancy and the devastation it had caused. They had made their choice.

It was start of a golden era of the state police. The police and the special operations group would go in for direct offensive against militants, most of whom were foreigners then. It goes to the credit of then Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah that he did not interfere in the working of the police. He had given a free hand to then Director General of Police Gurbachan Jagat and told him that he should brook no political interference.

During the Kargil war in 1999, the counter-insurgency grid of the Army units had moved to the borders. Militants, taking advantage of the situation, came down to the inhabited areas. At the same time, Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba began its deadly “fidayeen” attack campaign. Fidayeen squads would storm Army camps, including the 15 Corps cantonment, and kill soldiers.

It created an impression among people that if the Army could not defend its own camps, how would it defend them. This was a much more serious situation than the initial euphoria when “azadi” or freedom was thought to be just a few steps and slogans away. Kashmiris believe more in the effectiveness of slogans than anything else. It fell on the police to instil confidence among the people. It took part in anti-terror operations and its special operations group became the frontline force of anti-terror operations.

Towards the end of 2015, the killing of Lashkar man from Pakistan Abu Qasim, believed to be the mastermind of many terror attacks, brought thousands of people to his funeral procession. It surprised everyone. But this surprise turned into a surprising trend as each killing of a militant brought a massive surge of mourners at the funerals.

Crowds disrupting anti-terror operations started in February 2016. The locals would make a human wall around militants during encounters and throw stones at security personnel to blunt and disrupt counter-terrorism operations.

The trend has attained alarming proportions with militants managing to escape, soldiers dying in large numbers and operations being abandoned. It is this dangerous trend that made the Army Chief issue a warning to the disrupters of counter-terrorism operations. That has been misinterpreted because of the semantics.

The police are under increased pressure as they have to not only deal with the law and order situation of an alarming magnitude, but also have to stay their course on the anti-militancy operations. Policemen are getting killed by militants and the police are out and out against those spreading the scourge of violence. This role has invited the wrath of militants and their overground sympathisers. The disruption of anti-terror operations broadcast on the social media and at times with doctored pictures is a challenge. Since the police have a local face, their task is becoming more and more difficult. But they are dealing with it.