Srinagar: Four Jammu and Kashmir policemen have been dismissed from the service and a senior superintendent-level police officer was attached, a day after suspected Lashkar-e-Toiba militants decamped with four weapons from the guard room of a Congress legislator in a high-security area of Srinagar.
The incident has put security setup on alert in Kashmir. The gun looting incidents by militants are surging and have become a matter of great concern for the security forces.
The guns were looted from former state minister Muzaffar Parray's official residence at J-13 Govt Quarters in the Jawahar Nagar, a highly protected area in the uptown area of the city.
Police officials said four weapons were looted by the suspected militants.
How the Weapons were Looted?
Two people disguising as electricians entered the residence and found a policeman without uniform, police sources revealed, they made their way on the pretext of fixing the electric meter.
“As they entered, another person followed in and pointed a pistol on the cop. He was asked to show the weapons, the orders which he followed,” the police sources told News18.
This was a well-coordinated weapon-loot by the militants.
Actually, four policemen were deployed as the Personal Security Officer (PSO) for the legislator. However, he had gone to Jammu without his security detail, violating the protocol.
Only one PSO was at the residence and other three had gone home on unauthorised leave. Police sources reveal that the weapon loot would not have been possible without the support of another policeman, who actually confirmed to militants that only one PSO is at the residence.
“A policeman who knew the cops posted at the residence of the legislator visited the residence sometime before in the day and met the lone PSO, as a usual stopover,” police sources said.
The militants, who according to the police are affiliated with Lashkar, looted four AK47 rifles.
“The guns were kept in a metal trunk. They compelled the PSO to show them weapons. They broke the trunk and fled from the spot,” the police sources said.
Security was beefed-up soon in the city but the militants had escaped by then. The security setup in Kashmir is anxious over the incident as it happens not to be the first one.
Surprisingly, three months ago, in the same area, a Special Police Officer (SPO) posted at the residence of ex-PDP MLA, Aijaz Mir, decamped with seven rifles and a personal pistol of Mir.
Hours after the loot, the SPO Adil Basheer joined Hizbul Mujahideen by posting photos of joining on the internet. Soon after this incident, the security setup was put on alert and necessary reviews were made.
All the SPO’s were withdrawn from performing duties of Personal Security Officers of protected persons. Additional Director General of Police (Security, law and order) had said in the order that “SPOs are not trained to perform PSO duties” and all the “SPOs except SPO drivers” posted with protected persons “be immediately withdrawn”.
The police sources said that the cop, who is suspected of helping militants loot the weapons, is also missing.
Policemen looting weapons and joining militant ranks started on March 27, 2015, when Naseer Ahmed Pandit, a resident of Karimabad village of south Kashmir’s Pulwama, who was posted as a security guard at the residence of then PDP minister Altaf Bukhari decamped with one AK-47 rifle and joined Hizbul Mujahideen.
He was close to Commander Burhan Wani and was also featured in the “Burhan group” image — group of nine militants that became “reference” of the new age militancy in Kashmir. Pandit was killed in April 2016 in an encounter in Vehil village of Shopian district.
Later in January 2016, Shakoor Ahmad Parray, from south Kashmir’s Shopian, deserted the police force and decamped with four service rifles. He was arrested by police two months later. Two grenades and a pistol was recovered from him. In August 2018, militants abducted him from his home and fired in his arm, leaving him injured.
In May 2017, a constable in Jammu and Kashmir Police, Sayed Naveed Mushtaq, deployed to guard a facility belonging to the Food Corporation of India (FCI) in central Kashmir’s Budgam area fled with four service rifles and joined Hizbul Mujahideen.
An SPO fled with a service rifle in Kishtwar district in January 2018. It is not only the police personnel who are decamping with weapons but militants have been looting the guns in a similar way since 2016.
On May 8, 2016, militants decamped with the service rifle of four police personnel from a security post in south Kashmir’s Kulgam. Later in October 2017, five weapons were looted by militants from the security personnel guarding a TV tower in Anantnag.
In 2018, besides the latest incident and the episode of SPO decamping with rifles, there have been three successful weapon loots by the militants.
In April 2018, militants managed to decamp four rifles after attacking forces in Goripora Hyderpora area of Srinagar. Another two incidents occurred in the City. On May 16, militants snatched a rifle from a policeman at the University of Kashmir. A day later, militants stormed in a protected hotel of the city fled with three rifles.
Though top police officer denied comment on the latest weapon loot incident, some police officers wishing to remain anonymous termed it as a big challenge.
“The militants are in dearth of the weapons. So, they are desperately trying to snatch and loot guns,” a police officer said.
“The concern is that ranks within us are getting compromised and at the same time militants are getting strengthened,” he said, adding that “police is working at multiple levels to stop such incidents in future.”
(The author is a senior freelance journalist. All views expressed are personal)
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