The Jammu and Kashmir Police has ordered the withdrawal of all special police officers (SPOs) from duty with 'protected persons'.
The move is seen as a fallout of the theft of seven rifles and a pistol by an SPO, Adil Bashir, from the official residence of PDP MLA Ajaz Ahmed Mir at Jawahar Nagar, Srinagar, on September 28.
Bashir looted weapons from Mir's residence when the latter was in Jammu. Seven other SPOs guarding Mir were also on leave as the MLA was in Jammu.
After looting weapons from Mir's residence, Bashir joined the Hizbul Mujahideen.
The order on withdrawal of SPOs from protection duty has been issued by the additional director general of police (law and order) Munir Khan.
The order, sent to district senior superintendents, states, “All SPOs, except SPO drivers, presently attached with protected persons be immediately withdrawn of police and SSP security. Henceforth, no unit/district SSP shall deploy any SPO for personal security officer (PSO) duties.”
Senior police officers have also directed range deputy inspector generals to submit the list of all SPOs.
Also Read
- How the Indian Army, BSF are keeping vigil as intel suggests Pak terrorists may use Jammu’s dense fog for cover
- J&K hydel project row: Nov 1 police letter claims 29 with 'terror or criminal' links were hired at Ratle
- Soon, Poonch’s Banwat View Point will have 105-ft-tall Tiranga, Indian Army confirms
According to the order, if an SPO does not report back, his/her honorarium may not be released and their disengagement orders will be issued.
The looting of weapons by Bashir is not the first incident of its kind. But the police, according to sources, took the decision to withdraw SPOs from all protection duties in order to prevent a repeat of the Jawahar Nagar episode. The list of protected persons currently includes legislators, politicians, some bureaucrats and a few separatists like Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.
The police, according to sources, will also be questioning Mir to collect all information about the looting of arms from his residence.
The police have also detained the seven other SPOs for questioning.
The looting of weapons has come at a time when militants are facing a serious shortage of arms and ammunition due to effective counter-infiltration operations by the Army and other operations in the Kashmir valley.