Succumbing to threats, two SPOs resign publicly

Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, August 23

Two Special Police Officers (SPOs), part-time employees of the police, have publicly resigned in Sopore in Baramulla district of north Kashmir. They were garlanded after they announced their resignation.

SPOs are part-time employees of the Jammu and Kashmiro Police and are paid a meagre stipend of Rs 6,000 per month. They are engaged to help security forces tackle militancy.

SPOs Waseem Ahmed and Firdous Ahmed announced their resignation during a rally at Baharampora in Sopore, where one of them raised pro-freedom slogans.

Sources said the two SPOs were associated with the Jammu and Kashmir Police’s counter-insurgency unit, the Special Operations Group. They resigned after pressure from local residents.

“I have quit my job and seek forgiveness if anyone has suffered because of me,” Waseem said during the rally. He later told reporters that his family had been threatened and harassed and some people had tried to torch his house.

Sopore Superintendent of Police Harmeet Singh Mehta said he was unaware of the resignation of the two SPOs. “There is a proper procedure for resignation and I have not received any such resignation,” he told The Tribune.

Following the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani last month, anger had been rising against the Jammu and Kashmir Police, busy handling the law and order situation on the streets of Kashmir.

There had been calls of social boycott of the police. On many occasions, separatists and protesters had threatened certain police officers for alleged atrocities on protesters during the current unrest. Graffiti and posters had appeared in various areas threatening police officers with dire consequences.

“We are being seen with suspicion by local residents. When we go home in the evening, we have to hide our identity cards from protesters. There is fear among police ranks for sure,” said a middle-rung police officer.