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The upgrade in the security cover of Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party leader and estranged BJP friend Altaf Bukhari to Z+ comes at a time when most non-BJP politicians in the Union Territory have been complaining of security concerns.
The Centre’s clearance of the security cover means Bukhari joins the exclusive Z+ club that in J&K right now holds only four other politicians, all former Chief Ministers — Farooq and Omar Abdullah, Ghulam Nabi Azad, and Mehbooba Mufti.
Besides, Bukhari’s security protocol is higher than Mufti and Omar’s, in terms of number of personnel.
While Bukhari was already a protected person under the J&K list, he has now been brought under the Central list as well.
A businessman-turned-politician who founded the Apni Party in 2020 after he was expelled from his parent organisation Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by Mufti, Bukhari downplayed the security cover saying he had been categorised Z+ since 2015.
“Jammu and Kashmir is a place of rumours. I want to make it clear that since 2015, I have been categorised as Z+. And this categorisation happens based on threat perception. It is no luxury or a favour,” Bukhari told the media, adding that what might have happened now is “a periodic review”. “There might have been a review (to check) if all the norms are being followed. This is no news to me. As and when they (the Centre) feel the security is not required, they will withdraw it.”
However, to other politicians complaining of withdrawal of downgrading of security to them at a time when elections continue to be “just around the corner”, Bukhari’s Z+ cover is seen as a reward from the BJP-led centre to a politician seen as toeing the party’s line in Kashmir.
Bukhari was the first J&K political leader to give his stamp of approval to the scrapping of the erstwhile state’s special status and its division into two Union territories, when he attended a lunch with an unofficial delegation of the European Union, hosted by National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval in October 2019. This was barely three months after the abrogation of Article 370.
While Bukhari has lately been targeting the Centre and the BJP for its policies in J&K, amid growing frustration over the continuing Central rule and delayed elections among parties, he remains by and large the BJP’s best bet in the Union territory.
Immediately after veteran Congress leader Azad revolted and formed his own J&K-based party, Democratic Azad Party (DAP) – which was also seen in the UT as having New Delhi’s blessings — an unnerved Bukhari had announced that he was ready to join hands with the BJP. This was seen as a declaration of loyalty to the national party whose attention seemed to be wavering.
Asked if he was ready to join hands with the BJP, Bukhari had shot back in January: “Why not? Does the BJP suffer from a disease?… Did I ever ask for votes saying I will not go with the BJP?… The truth is that except the PDP, we are ready to form government with anyone.”
The Z+ cover now could be the BJP’s way of saying thank you, say Apni Party rivals.
“This has proved us right. We have been saying that he is the BJP’s man in Kashmir,” National Conference spokesperson Imran Nabi told The Indian Express. “There are former chief ministers and political leaders who have a more serious threat to life but their security has been withdrawn or downgraded. The security is reserved for a particular class that aligns with the BJP.”
A PDP leader said this was happening across the country. “Take the example of a few PDP leaders. They were attacked several times, yet they were thrown out of their secure residences by the government and forced to live at unsafe locations,” he said. “But more than that it is a comment on the government’s claim of normalcy. On one hand they are trying to paint a rosy picture that normalcy has returned and on that pretext downgraded or removed security of political leaders who oppose the BJP and on the other they have accorded Z+ security protocol to him (Bukhari).”
The security cover to a politician is decided by a state government and the Centre based on threat perception by intelligence agencies, including the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of a state police and the Intelligence Bureau. While J&K had a separate Special Security Group on the pattern of the Centre’s National Security Guards, it was wound up two years ago.
According to J&K Police sources, the whole categorisation policy for security is very opaque since J&K lost its special status and came under direct control of the Centre, with only a few top officials having access to such records.
