The 2-day 11th State Level Annual Conference of the Commandants of JK Armed Police has just ended in Srinagar with Director General of Police, Ashok Prasad touching on various aspects of the role of JKAP force and complimenting the personnel for their discipline and professional competence. The conference was convened to discuss the role of State Armed Police in present disturbed situation and its future strategies and performance.
JKAP was called upon to play vital role in facing extraordinary law and order situation in the State ever since the rise of militancy in 1989. In meeting this formidable challenge with grit and determination and in exercising control of volatile situation that often surfaced in an atmosphere of militancy, the JKAP force has made many valuable sacrifices of jawans and officers. The nation will always remember these sacrifices and will take pride in the sacrifice of their fallen heroes. This is a professional force and the jawans go through rigorous training in their profession. The reason why the DGP and ADGP both have been effusive in showering praises on the personnel is that two decades of fighting insurgency, more often than not, brought them face to face with mass protest rallies and demonstrations besides actual gunfights with the militants. In such critical situations that exposed the masses of people to serious threats of being caught in the cross fire, the jawans of JKAP demonstrated highest quality of professionalism. The result was that minimum rather zero casualties took place in the course of an encounter. As the situation arose, new chapter in the training curricula of police force came to be studied and that is of mass handling tactics.
The second important reason that makes us express appreciation and gratitude to the JKAP is the way it took on militants in the State during past two decades of militancy. It is a proxy war that is being fought in J&K for last two decades or more. The militants moving in twos or threes and not more have been targeting the policemen at their respective posts and places. Often the militants either ambush them or strike at them just appearing from nowhere. There have been some casualties among the force, but by and large the agile force has kept the situation under control by coordinating their tactics with the input from civil society. Consequently, it gave rise to another phenomenon and that is fruitful and productive interaction between the Armed Police personnel and civil society. This point was sufficiently highlighted by both the DGP and the ADGP in the conference. Force rightly deserves compliments for creating cordial atmosphere for relationship between them and the members of civil society. This role has been appreciated by all who are concerned about the ground situation in the State of Jammu and Kashmir.
An important theme towards which top police echelons directed their attention and also the attention of the entire force was of maintaining close liaison among all ranks and files of the force. It was emphasized that officers should very often get into touch with the subordinates and hold durbars very frequently so as to be fully aware of the difficulties of jawans and find solution to these. The matter boils down to officer-subordinate relationship in JKAP. This is armed police force and in all kinds of assignments the jawans and the officers have to work in unison. They have to sink or swim together. Hence there arises the necessity of close interaction between the officers and the other ranks. The recent mass protest by the trainees in police training headquarter in Manigam, Lar in Kashmir is an example of lack of communication between the seniors and their juniors.
We hope that this year’s annual conference of the Commandants of JKAP will go a long way in helping the organization produce professionally better trained personnel with new techniques and capabilities of facing new type of situations. It is also hoped that more amenities and facilities will be provided to the wards of the police jawans especially those who have laid down their lives in the service of the country. The nation owes a debt to them. The widows and the children of the fallen heroes have to be taken care of. The challenge has not come to an end and the JKAP, being in the forefront of meeting the challenge of terrorists and militants will have to keep its powder dry for a long time.
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