JKP – the forgotten anti-militancy force

NL Correspondent

SRINAGAR: The Jammu and Kashmir Police might have turned an important force for fighting militants in the valley, they are living in a “bad condition” as the government has not build the required infrastructure for them, an official report reveals.

They have been empowered by virtue British legacy of ‘belt and baton' to extract a lot for the personal benefits but as an institution of immense importance nothing has been initiated which ultimately could improve their lot and make them an asset to the social order.

“The police personnel live in a bad condition. Their number has increased but the commensurate infrastructure has not been built. The most serious aspect is the absence of adequate number of toilets in police lines and police stations,” an official report says.

There are around 80,000 police personnel in the state who have been dealing with the law and order situation and fighting militancy in the valley. The government has been increasing the number of police personnel in the state but the government has “failed” to provide the requisite infrastructure for them.

The report says that the police stations had never been provided any specific financial resources to meet the expenditure like petrol, stationary etc. for investigation of crimes. “This has often resulted in the perception of police station and its personnel being corrupt. In this context, Rs. 1.00 lac each, to begin with, all 193 police stations of the state were allocated as cost of investigation. Having the legitimate financial resource will certainly uplift the image of police stations in the minds of common masses,” the report reads.

The government as per the report has provided Rs 2 crore for this purpose. Further, the report says an allocation of Rs.500 crores will be spent on high security capacity building in the next three years. “The money will be spent on technical upgradation including extensive installation of CCTV cameras,” it reads.

It states that J&K police has over a period of time turned itself into an “important force in fighting militancy and crime”. “Modernisation of police force has been undertaken in the recent times to enhance the capacity of force.”

“Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has been supplementing the efforts and resources of the States, from time to time, by implementing the Scheme for MPF scheme),” it reads.

The objective of the scheme is to gradually reduce the dependence of the state government's on the Army and the Central Armed Police Forces to control internal security and law and order situations by equipping the state police forces adequately and strengthening their training infrastructure.”