Disturbing reports have come in that 900 under training policemen in the Police Training School at Manigam in Ganderbal district have refused to go on yatra duty and are on rampage. This is perhaps the first time in the history of the State Police Department when such a large number of cops have gone on wholesale protest. In all probability, there could be more than one reason for them to adopt the defiant mood. Given the circumstances in which their recruitment has taken place, police authorities should have taken extra caution not to give them cause for discontent.
Looking in retrospect, we find that no doubt J&K Police have rendered meritorious service and some of their officers and other ranks have been even awarded for dedicated service as is expected of them. In particular, in a situation of militancy, the police had to face many challenges on many fronts. Fortunately they have come out with flying colours bringing honour and pride to the State. In recognition of their services and the odds against which they are performing, the Government has been taking steps to provide the entire police force and their families, facilities they need to live a good life and to the extent the government can provide. From time to time the Government has made input towards the amelioration of service conditions of police personnel.
However, a few instances of policemen hobnobbing with the militants have also come to notice in the past. In some of these cases, cops deployed at sensitive positions have been lured by the militants in disclosing tactical information and in all probability against considerable pecuniary benefits. There are also some cases in which policemen, out of fascination for militancy, have left their posts and joined hands with the militants. Apart from this some of the cops have shifted allegiance owing to matters like personal problems, frustration, anxiety or maltreatment by the superiors. This is not unusual. After all the cops are human beings as anybody else and they are part of the social milieu from which they come.
This being the generality, the case under consideration is of the 900 under-training policemen having gone on rampage, 500 or odd have been recruited from downtown Srinagar. These young people were implicated in stone throwing during 2010 protests. However, on finding that most of them were unemployed and had no substantial means of earning, the government decided to treat them on humanitarian grounds and got them recruited in police department. In an overall estimation, this humanistic policy of the Government is appreciable because after all unemployed youth do, in more cases, take to violence and thus become a source of nuisance. Government being the largest employer in the state, they were absorbed in police department. However, prudence demanded that before their mass recruitment, they should have been subjected to strict scrutiny by intelligence organizations of the State to ensure that none of them was suspected of close links with the militants. It was in the interests of the State that such candidates as were patently in liaison with the adversary should not heave been recruited in police department. If they were to be provided means of subsistence, an alternative should have been looked for. After the incident took place, the impression gathered is that there must be elements among the defiant cops that have links with militants, who are misusing them for their ulterior motives. Their antecedents should have been thoroughly checked.
Having said this much, the question of pacifying has to be handled with great caution and not with vengeance. First of all their service related grievances should be heard and remedied without loss of time. They have to be told that once in police service, they have to perform duty wherever they are posted. It is to be ascertained why they specifically refused to perform Amarnath Yatra duty? Seniors should have sensed the possible resentment from the cops for going on this particular duty. After all, the memory of Amarnath yatra agitation still lingers on in the mind of those who were indoctrinated in anti-national culture. The incident has to be taken seriously and in all of its ramifications. This gives an insight into the on-ground situation. Let us not be carried away by the wishful thinking that everything is fine in the State and such incidents are nothing extraordinary. The onus comes to the doorsteps of the leadership that has been instrumental in their recruitment.
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