SRINAGAR The Union Home Ministrys order of rushing 10,000 additional paramilitary personnel to Kashmir followed by a police missive on riot control equipment have amplified apprehensions on the ground about the removal of the Article 35A and Article 370.
Though the Jammu and Kashmir police on Saturday clarified that Centre’s decision to deploy additional paramilitary forces in the state was a routine exercise, speculations were rife that the troops were inducted and trained to prepare for a big event after the conclusion of the Amarnath Yatra on 15 August.
New Delhi based news agency IANS quoting top sources in the governmenteven reported on Saturday that the countdown for the removal of the Article 35A in Jammu and Kashmir has started.
One of the major poll planks for the BJP was the scrapping of Articles 35A and 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.
Earlier Kashmiri unionist politicians as well as activists had started hinting that the Centre was about to abrogate Article 35A which allows the J&K state legislature to define permanent residents, conferring them with special rights over property. The constitutional validation of the article has already been challenged in the Supreme Court.
Former Chief Minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday said that the Centre’s decision to deploy additional 10,000 troops to the Valley has created fear among residents.
The deployment of the troops, however, is not the only reason that has led to speculation that something is afoot.
A day before the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued the order of additional deployment, National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval, who is one of the most important persons where New Delhis Kashmir policy is concerned, was on a two-day trip to the Valley.
During his stay in Srinagar, Doval had held detailed discussions with senior officers of the state administration, police, paramilitary forces, army, state and Central intelligence agencies, they said.
According to the News18, Doval spent the first day at the Nehru Guest house in Srinagar. “The NSA separately met three advisors of Governor Satya Pal Malik; later, the chief secretary and the director general of police also called upon him, the report said.
It said Doval also met a few civilians whose names were directly sent from the NSA office to the state security. The next day, he went to the Amarnath cave and paid obeisance.
After returning to Delhi, Doval went straight to brief Prime Minister Narendra Modi, News 18 quoting a source reported.
Other than the poll deployment and Dovals visit, other developments have taken place in the state suggesting that the state administration is preparing for “something monumental”.
When Amit Shah visited Kashmir for the first time after taking over as Union Home Minister, he held a series of meetings with top officials of both the Centre and the state. Shah also met some influential civilians, as per sources, and sought their cooperation in the future.
These new people were not the usual leaders or activists, but people who are loyal to New Delhi and remain covert, a police official was quoted as saying by the News18. We had to even struggle to locate some of them.
Soon after Shahs visit, Samant Goel also visited Kashmir for two days within a week after taking over as chief of the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW). He visited the Line of Control (LoC) and met a number of officials. He also held several meetings with officials and a few civilians.
Apart from these visits, the increase in the magnitude of operations by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in the state has also intensified speculation.
Despite filing a charge sheet in the terror funding case and incarcerating most of the separatist leaders, the central probe agency has called a number of people for interrogation. These include editors of newspapers, businessmen and some mainstream politicians. The NIA has even conducted raids in rural areas of Kashmir, arresting people in different cases.
Mukesh Singh, a Jammu and Kashmir-cadre IPS officer who is an inspector-general in the NIA, has been prematurely repatriated to Kashmir to assist in any future action by government.
Kashmir Inspector General of Police SP Pani, who was transferred to R&AW two months ago, has also not been relieved by the Home Ministry. Sources say the Centre wants Pani an officer who is a favourite of the NIA – to stay on in Kashmir and consider him to be an effective officer in handling the situations.
Moreover, one of the most experienced J&K police officers, Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Munir Khan, has been given a one-year extension. This move is to ensure the presence of a Muslim face in the J&K Police, claim sources.
The appointment of Farooq Khan, a new advisor to Governor Satya Pal Malik, is also being linked to this. Khan was the first officer to head the J&K Polices counter-insurgency wing, Special Operations Group (SOG), and is also a leader in the BJPs minority cell.
According to sources, Shah is also meeting a number of Kashmiri stakeholders in Delhi and, off record, all of them assured him help.
Another development being related to the current happenings in Kashmir is that despite completing his tenure, Rahul Rasgotra, Joint Director of Kashmir of Intelligence Bureau, was not called back.
Apart from this, some senior BJP leaders, including former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, are currently in Kashmir. They are meeting party workers in the state and asking them to work for peace.
The state police, however, termed the additional troop deployment as a usual security exercise. There is nothing extraordinary in it. It is a usual exercise, J&K Police DGP Dilbagh Singh said.
He added these troops are being called in to give rest to the already-deployed paramilitary forces since the urban body polls held in October last year.
We have large numbers of forces deployed in the Valley, who have been working continuously from the last nine months. We have to give them some rest, said Singh, urging people to not pay heed to rumours.
The Home Ministry has said these personnel will be deployed to strengthen the counter-insurgency grid and law and order duties in the Kashmir Valley. Officials said the additional troops are being air-lifted and sent by trains.
In the middle of amplifying fears, the state government has not issued any statement hitherto on the subject which amplifies fears in the Valley.
When similar fears spread in the Valley in wake of Supreme court hearing in February this year, the Jammu and Kashmir administration said its stance remained unchanged that only an elected government would be able to take a stand on Article 35-A.
Addressing a press conference then, senior bureaucrat Rohit Kansal, who has been designated as the chief spokesperson of the governor’s administration, had said, “The stand of the state government on the request of deferment of hearing on Article 35A in the Supreme Court remains the same as requested by them on February 11.”
Follow this link to join our WhatsApp group: Join Now
Be Part of Quality Journalism |
Quality journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce and despite all the hardships we still do it. Our reporters and editors are working overtime in Kashmir and beyond to cover what you care about, break big stories, and expose injustices that can change lives. Today more people are reading Kashmir Observer than ever, but only a handful are paying while advertising revenues are falling fast. |
| ACT NOW |
| MONTHLY | Rs 100 |  |
| YEARLY | Rs 1000 | |
| LIFETIME | Rs 10000 | |
