Minister''s guard goes missing with AK-47 rifles

 Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, March 28

A policeman, guarding the residence of senior PDP leader and Minister for Public Works, Floriculture and Gardens and Parks Altaf Bukhari, has gone missing along with two AK-47 rifles and ammunition.

 An alert has been sounded as security agencies suspect that the policeman, identified as Naseer Ahmed Pandith, may have links with militants. 

Pandith hails from the Kareem Abad locality in militancy infested Pulwama district in south Kashmir, police officials said. Bukhari is away in Jammu where he is attending the ongoing Assembly session.

Sources said that Pandith was part of the 12 security men, including from the Jammu and Kashmir Police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), who were deployed to guard the residence of Bukhari in Sheikh Bagh, just a few metres from the city’s commercial centre Lal Chowk.

Sources said that Pandith, who joined the police in 2007, was associated with the security wing of the police and 

was deployed at the minister’s residence for the past two weeks.

The policeman, two AK-47 rifles and some ammunition went missing last evening. His colleagues told the local police this morning when they found that the two rifles — including the one of Pandith — were missing.  

“We have registered a case, begun an investigation and launched a manhunt to trace him,” a police officer said. “The initial investigation has revealed that the 

policeman fled in a load carrier that was parked near the minister’s house and 2-3 men were seen waiting for him.”

Inspector General of Police, Kashmir, Javaid Gillani said that the police were looking at all angles.

“Two boys from his native village have also gone missing. There is a possibility that they, along with the policeman, have joined the militants. The investigation is on and we are looking at all angles,” Gillani told The Tribune.