Srinagar: Security forces killed two special police officers (SPOs) of the Jammu and Kashmir Police 24 hours after they deserted the cadre and joined the militant outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad. The incident has once again brought to fore the issue of desertions within the police and Army ranks.
The two SPOs, identified as Shabir Ahmad and Salman Ahmad, had decamped with their service rifles from the district police lines in south Kashmir’s Pulwama Thursday. They were killed along with the Jaish-e-Mohammad militants Imran Ahmad of Arihal Pulwama and Ashiq Ahmad of Panjran.
Even though police officials maintain that the number of desertions is negligible, they admit that such incidents are a cause for concern. Last year, police took a series of measures to counter desertions as decamping became a trend.
Earlier this year there were discussions to install traceable chips on weapons used by forces guarding “protected persons” — including politicians, bureaucrats and top cops — but senior J&K police officials, including ADGP Munir Ahmad Khan, did not officially confirm if the weapons taken away by the SPOs had the chips.
“If anyone runs away with weapons we have enough mechanism to track them down,” Khan said, referring to the strong human intelligence network of the J&K police.
The senior police officer told ThePrint that the weapons, which the SPOs had decamped with were installed with the traceable microchips.
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SPOs’ unit carries out encounter
The encounter was carried out by the 182 battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), 44 Rashtriya Rifles and Special Operations Group (SOG) of the J&K police, the force’s anti-insurgency unit in which the two slain SPOs were posted.
A senior CRPF officer told ThePrint that the encounter took place at Panjran area of Lassiporpa and that the weapons the SPOs had taken with them as well as those of the two slain JeM militants were recovered from the spot.
Police had launched a search after the two SPOs went missing from the district police lines.
“As per credible intelligence, the two had been in touch with JeM’s Kashmir leadership. We received an input that the two had joined the terror outfit,” the senior police officer quoted above said. “Sometime later we had information about the presence of militants in Panjran area.”
Weapons snatching
While in Kashmir’s three-decade-long insurgency, militant groups were believed to get their weapons from Pakistan, a drop in supply over the past few years due to intensified counter-insurgency operations and stronger border checks has prompted a change in tactics.
Youth who want to join militant ranks have been simply snatching weapons from police officials on the streets. Active militants have also adopted the method. Nearly 75 weapons were stolen or snatched across the Valley last year, officials said.
Serving personnel decamping with weapons after deserting their units is, however, a relatively new trend.
The two SPOs leaving with their weapons comes in the same week when the National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed a chargesheet against SPO-turned-militant Adil Bashir Sheikh for deserting his unit with seven AK rifles along with a pistol and ammunition in September last year.
Sheikh was posted as a personal security officer (PSO) at the Srinagar residence of former PDP MLA Wachi Aijaz Ahmad Mir.
In December, suspected militants stole at least four assault rifles from the guard post at former Congress MLA Muzaffar Parray’s house, which is a few metres away from Mir’s.
The incidents led to a number of measures aimed at improving the standard operating procedure followed by police in the Valley. Local police began surprise checks and guard counts at the houses of protected persons in Srinagar.
In October, the police department had ordered the withdrawal of SPOs working as PSOs to protected persons.
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