168 police personnel under radar for involvement in subversive/criminal/corrupt activities/Include two Insps, 11 SIs, 49 ASIs among others/7 hail from Jammu, 161 in Kashmir valley

JAMMU, Jan 3: After dismissal of several civil officers/officials by the Jammu and Kashmir Government including senior ones for their direct/indirect involvement in terror activities, now it’s the turn of Police Department which has put its 168 personnel on radar for their reported involvement in subversive/criminal/corrupt activities and action against them is on the cards.

Among 168 Jammu and Kashmir Police (JKP) personnel whose links with subversives are under investigation, only seven belonged to Jammu division while 161 are in Kashmir valley, official sources told the Excelsior.

Seven police personnel, whose credentials are doubtful and being probed by the police at highest level in Jammu division include two each from Jammu, Rajouri and Poonch districts and one in Kishtwar while 161 cops, who are under radar in Kashmir, belonged to all 10 districts of the Valley.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) Davinder Singh was dismissed from the services by the Government in May last year for his involvement in terror activities.

However, out of 168 police officers/officials, whose cases are under review, two are in the rank of Inspectors, 11 Sub Inspectors and 49 Assistant Sub Inspectors. Rest are in the ranks of Head Constables, Selection Grade Constables, Constables and Followers.

“The track record and credentials of the police personnel will be examined minutely. Their performance and role, if any, in subversive and militant activities will be looked into,” the sources said.

There is a condition that the police personnel against whom action is proposed to be taken might have completed 22 years of service or attained 48 years of age, they said.

As per the sources, this is for the first time that such a major exercise has been initiated by the Police Department to weed out the police personnel who are involved in subversive/criminal/corrupt activities.

“And the action is expected to be taken shortly after approval of the concerned authorities,” the sources said.

The Jammu and Kashmir Government during past few months has gone tough on employee-militant nexus and sacked many Government officers/officials who were involved in terror activities directly/indirectly. The process is going on and more civil officials/officers are under the surveillance of the Intelligence agencies and their record/cases are being proved.

Asserting that the cases of non-performers are different from pro-terror employees, sources said these are two different categories but in both of them, the officers/officials against whom evidence is gathered will be dismissed from the services.

“The Government has taken a decision that there will be no leniency with the officers/officials who are either linked to militancy and those who are not performing to the satisfaction that they will be axed from the services,” sources said, adding it was in this context that further action has been initiated against the officials in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

It may be mentioned here that the present regime has started acting tough against the officers/officials linked to terror and has already dismissed a number of such officials in both divisions of Jammu and Kashmir including some in the Gazetted rank and Jammu and Kashmir Administrative Services (JKAS).

“This was for the first time under present dispensation that the Government acted tough against the employees who were encouraging the militancy in the Union Territory especially in the Valley and some districts of the Jammu region. Previous regimes had either refused to take action despite adverse reports submitted by the Intelligence agencies or just gave warning to them and didn’t take any major action in most of the cases,” the sources pointed out.

Even majority of the Government officers terminated from the Government services during Mufti Mohammad Sayeed regime labelling them as “deadwood” came back to services adopting legal course.

Asserting that action against Government staffers founding encouraging the militancy or facilitating their activities was necessary to break backbone of the militancy, sources said it has send loud and clear message to the officials and there were reports available with the Intelligence and other Government agencies that the employees, who were earlier linked to terror, have dissociated themselves from the anti-national activities.

“The Government policy of taking harsh action against pro-terror employees by terminating them from the services has worked well. It has given the desired results. However, there are still some black sheep against whom the Government is acting by collecting evidence through the Intelligence agencies,” sources said.(DailyExcelsior)