Journalism of Courage
On the day President Ram Nath Kovind approved the imposition of Governor’s rule in Jammu and Kashmir, state Director General of Police (DGP) S P Vaid Wednesday said that counter-terror operations will be “much easier” for security agencies during Governor’s rule. The Centre also transferred senior Chhattisgarh-cadre IAS officer, B V R Subrahmanyam to J&K as Chief Secretary.
In an interview to NDTV, Vaid said: “I think, operations will continue. Only thing was in between during this period, operations were stopped. They were going on earlier also. But we will intensify these operations in days to come and it would be, I think, much easier to work.”
As Governor N N Vohra held meetings with security agencies, Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat said ongoing military operations in the Valley against terrorists would continue as earlier.
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Sources said that security forces are likely to get a free hand to deal with militants and that counterinsurgency operations in the Valley may spike. “With the Centre directly controlling the state, we think now there will not be much political interference in our anti-militancy operations,” a senior police officer told The Indian Express. “A civilian government has many political compulsions that would, at times, hamper our operations.”
A 1987-batch IAS officer, Subramanyam was additional chief secretary (Home) in Chhattisgarh and has served as the personal secretary to former prime minister Manmohan Singh from 2002 to 2007. He will replace Chief Secretary B B Vyas who has been appointed as Advisor to the Governor along with retired IPS officer Vijay Kumar.
Vyas, who is on an extension, has served the J&K government in different capacities and is considered a trusted lieutenant of Governor Vohra while Vijay Kumar is presently senior security advisor, Union Ministry of Home Affairs. A Naxal expert, Kumar is a 1975-batch IPS officer from the Tamil Nadu cadre.
While announcing the withdrawal of support to the PDP, BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav Tuesday cited security challenges as one of the factors besides intermittent political feuds. According to government data, while incidents of stone pelting decreased after the ceasefire was announced on May 17, the number of security forces casualties and injuries, militants gunned down and terrorist attacks increased during the month-long ceasefire.
The assessment, officials said, was based on violence reported over a month before and for a month after the Ramzan ceasefire was announced. While 108 incidents of stone pelting were reported between May 17 and June 16, 258 such incidents were reported between April 15 to May 16, before the ceasefire was announced.
According to official figures, security forces casualties, however, went up from 5 (April 15- May 16) to 9 (May 17- June 16) and injuries rose from 25 to 52. The number of attacks by terrorists rose from 20 (April-May) to 74 (May-June).
