J&K Police circular on verification draws flak from mainstream political parties

A fresh order by the Jammu and Kashmir police to deny security clearance to those facing law and order allegations including stone pelting, has drawn a severe flak. Several mainstream political parties too have condemned the circular.

Srinagar (J&K): A fresh order by the Jammu and Kashmir police to deny security clearance to those accused of stone pelting and law and order allegations have drawn flak from the mainstream political parties who condemned the circular. "All the field units of CID SB-Kashmir are hereby directed to ensure that during verification related to passport service and any other verification related to government services, schemes, the subject’s involvement in law and order, stone pelting cases and other crime prejudicial to the security of the State be specifically looked into and same must be corroborated from local police station records," read the new order issued by SSP CID (SB) in Kashmir.

It asked for collecting digital evidence like CCTV footage, photographs, videos, audio clips and quadcopter images available in the police records, with security forces and various security agencies as references. "Any subject found involved in any such cases must be denied the security clearances," the order further stated. The circular drew flak from National Conference, Peoples Conference and Apni Party.

National Conference vice-president and former chief minister Omar Abdullah said an executive order cannot replace a court of law. "As a rule, no one can be declared guilty until proven. So, as far as this new order is concerned, it should be seen in relation to the recent order on termination of employees. As such, this new order also seems open to gross misuse in its current form," Omar Abdullah tweeted. "They did the same with scores of others, many of whom had these police reports tossed out by the courts. An executive order cannot replace a court of law. Guilt or innocence must be proven in court & not based on vague unproven police reports," he said in another tweet.

Apni Party president Altaf Bukhari urged the LG Manoj Sinha to review the order as it will further alienate youth in Kashmir. In a statement Bukhari said that such arbitrary decisions will only push the youth into further alienation and are counter-productive for the peace and reconciliation process in Jammu and Kashmir. "We are undergoing a process of reconciliation wherein it is intended to absorb everyone who earlier on felt alienated or disenchanted. The latest order is totally in contradiction to the promises and vision of Hon’ble Prime Minister and Union Home Minister who envisage a better and prosperous future for the people of J&K especially its promising youth," he said.

Bukhari added that clashes in both directions cannot yield the desired results and hence police should have focused more on a soft approach through counseling rather than impeding the avenues of the youth who have immense potential and desire to be brought into the mainstream. "The constitution of India gives an ample chance to everyone to mend their faults. There are many cases wherein people have been booked for the first time under the law and order charges. Don’t they deserve a second chance? This impatient obduracy to finish off their careers is definitely not in the national interest but rather it appears to be a conspiracy to fuel a new controversy in Kashmir," he remarked.

Bukhari urged the Lt. Governor Manoj Sinha to take a serious cognizance of this pressing matter that has enough potential to disturb the peace and stability in J&K while the current efforts are focused on to involve people in the mainstream activities. "I earnestly hope that the government will revisit this decision in the public and national interest and will not allow divisive policies to start a regressive trend in J&K," he said.

Peoples’ Conference said the order not only gives arbitrary powers to the sleuths of the Special Branch but also appoints them as judge, jury and executioner - in this case - to pulverize career prospects of Kashmiri youth and to push them away from the mainstream of the country. "The new law is unambiguously harsh. Most importantly in contravention to the spirit of the speech made by the Hon’ble Prime Minister at All-Party Meet. The thrust and recurring theme of PM’s speech were that the distance of hearts between Delhi and Srinagar needs to be decreased. Such orders will not resolve or decrease the distance between New Delhi and Srinagar and will certainly increase the alienation of the people towards the institutions of government and the psychological distance between Delhi," Adnan Ashraf Mir, the Peoples’ Conference spokesman said.

"How the investigative agency is conferring sweeping power on itself violates constitutional principles observed in the rest of the country. Undoubtedly this order is beyond the pay and grade of a typical administrative services officer and will have long-lasting societal and political ramifications. These ill-thought structural changes will bring negative ramifications lasting decades. It is our earnest appeal to the bureaucracy: please do not sow seeds of anger and poison for our future generations," Mir added.