Srinagar: Governor Satya Pal Malik has directed the police top brass in Jammu and Kashmir to review the security cover of all the protected persons including the politicians of various political parties to ensure they get proper protection and any bid on their lives is foiled, top officials in Rajbhawan told KNO.
The directions have come after the detailed report on the killing of politicians sought by the Governor last month was submitted to him with a series of remedial measures and the details of political workers and leaders of various political parties killed in the past nearly a decade.
“After the killing of a political worker of BJP at Kokernag area of Anantnag in May, the Governor had sought a report from the police that was submitted to him recently. After going through the report, the Governor directed the police top brass to review the security cover of protected persons including those affiliated with political parties to ensure they get proper protection,” an official in Rajbhawan told Kashmir News Observer (KNO), wishing not to be named.
He said that 300 politicians of various parties had approached Rajbhawan with written requests seeking protection. “Some had sought bullet proof vehicles while some had requested for raising the number of men guarding them. The Governor took a serious note of the issue and passed certain important directions to police top brass to ensure proper protection,” the official said.
He said the directions included that the police must go for a detailed security review and on the basis of threat perception and genuineness of the requests of politicians, “security cover may either be enhanced or granted as per the need.”
A police official told KNO, that they have started review of the security cover to be granted to politicians of various parties. “There are lot of requests as some demand bullet proof vehicles while some are for raising the number of men deployed for their security cover,” he said, requesting anonymity.
The officer said that police have, however, started a massive review where in party affiliations, position, rank and above all threat perception is being kept in mind while issuing the security men for protection. “There is a dearth of bullet proof vehicles, but in a case where we feel there is a dire need of issuing a bullet proof vehicle to a person, we sanction it,” the officer said.
He told KNO majority of requests they received from politicians were from those hailing from the south Kashmir districts of Pulwama, Shopian, Kulgam followed by Anantnag. “The process of review is on and the concerns expressed by politicians in terms of security issues are being taken care of,” the officer said.
