Author: Saikat Datta
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: May 7, 2003
In three months, nearly 100 special
police Officers have deserted their posts in Doda, taking their weapons
with them.
In this township in the thick of
anti-insurgency operations, the J - K Police is suffering an unlikely casualty.
Complaining of non-payment of salaries
for the last months, almost 100 Special Officers (SPO) have run away deserting
their posts in the Doda forests, taking their weapons - AK-47s, light machine
guns and self-loading rifles - with them.
Sources said that last week senior
police officers managed to bring back 34 SPOs with their weapons with promises
to settle their issues soon. The district police administration is holding
them in the Doda Police Lines and is interrogating six of their suspected
leaders.
The state government, on its part,
is saying it is looking into the matter, but no senior official was willing
to come on record on the developments.
With a change in government and
its security policies, the SPOs are a casualty in the complexities that
dog counter terrorist operations in Jammu Kashmir. Raised by the state
police long with material and training support of the Army, the SPOs staffed
the Special Task Force (STF) and the dreaded Special Operations Group (SOG).
Most, like Zorawar Singh (name changed),
had all the right qualifications to be signed up as SPOs..They had lost
a family member to terrorist attacks, knew the loca11anguage and the treacherous
terrain and were physically and psychologically fit to take up arms 'in
the war against terror.
Trained by the Army; they took up
the Kalashnikov, guiding the police and Army columns through jungle terrain
and mountain passes during operations. Each kill would be awarded with
a citation from the local unit commander and promises of becoming regular
policemen.
All that changed when the people's
Democratic Party (PDP) government came to power with its 'healing touch'
and a resolve to disband the SOG. Senior police officers say that while
the PDP government was keen to weed out the Ikhwani elements - the surrendered
militants - the SPOs became a natural target.
"They are our best force multiplier.
They serve as personal security officers, go out on counter-terrorist operations
and help f1l1 the gap that the police could not fill when militancy arrived
in the state," says a senior district police official. '
But this year, with change in government,
the state delayed in picking up the Security Related Expenditure (SRE)-
funds that come from the Centre for security and also pays the salaries
of the SPOs.
For three months without their monthly
allowance of Rs 1,500, many started abandoning their posts with their weapons,
sending shockwaves through the local security establishment.
The state government's resolve to
allow only matriculate into the police has SPOs staring at a bleak future.
Most left school years ago and are, even scared to go back where militants
visit their homes looking for them. Meanwhile, with political parties threatening
to make this an issue for political gains, state police officials are in
a bind.
