Panchayat leaders in Kashmir seek security

Srinagar: The Kashmir Zone Police is busy conducting intelligence-based operations and have decided to provide militancy free areas to politicians for their work. But most of the mainstream political workers, especially affiliated to the BJP, have migrated from their villages after the recent killings and kidnappings.

In the past few days, the relatively calm district of Budgam has seen the silent migration of panchs, sarpanchs and BJP-affiliated local leaders. The killings of Waseem Bari, his father and brother in Bandipora of North Kashmir, despite having 10 PSOs, have forced vulnerable local leaders to leave their villages.

The incident was followed by kidnapping of another BJP local leader from Dangiwacha Rafiabad, North Kashmir; the leader was subsequently rescued by police. While BJP-affiliated local leaders are angry with police and administration, the officers on ground say that there was no point to provide PSOs to such vulnerable people.

While senior police officers claim that they are busy in counter-insurgency operations to provide a safe atmosphere to grassroots political leaders, most of them have migrated in the recent past.

Abdul Rashid Bhat, is sarpanch affiliated to the BJP from the Khag area of Budgam district, is fed up with the administration and police as he has neither security nor are the officials responding to his public grievances in the area. “Officers do not listen to us; on the ground we are facing not only threat but also a non-responsive administration,”Bhat told this paper. Like him, dozens of panchs and sarpanchs have fled from their villages after the recent killings and threats. The J&K administration seems to be working to make areas militancy free so that political activities can be taken up by people without any fear. “The Waseem Bari killing, despite having 10 PSOs in a secured area, has made it clear to us that there was no point in providing PSO to every local leader on the ground,” a senior police officer told this paper on the condition of anonymity.

Police and CRPF are protecting not only the vital installations, but also hundreds of mainstream political leaders, including former chief ministers, ministers and lawmakers. The fresh threat has already “burdened” police and administration to provide security and accommodation to many vulnerable local leaders of BJP in the Kashmir valley. Police sources told this newspaper that after the killing of Waseem Bari, they have shifted a lot of BJP-affiliated local leaders to safe and secure places. Recently, the Home Minister also passed instructions to UT administration of Jammu and Kashmir to provide all help and security for local BJP leaders.

In the past two months, the BJP has been very active at the ground level in Kashmir Valley to replace traditional political parties like National Conference and PDP. Many panchs and surpanchs of these regional political parties and Congress blamed the administration for forcing them to switchover to BJP as they were getting no response from the government for their security and for their works in their respective areas.

The killing of Waseem Bari, his father and brother, is being viewed as a huge setback to the BJP network at the village levels in Kashmir. Local panchs and sarpanchs, not happy with the administration, allege that only BJP affiliated panchayat members have a say on the ground. Police, while investigation the killing of Waseem Bari in Bandipora, questioned a senior engineer of the district along with a local contractor. Police had earlier received a complaint from an executive engineer and from the younger brother of Waseem Bari, accusing each other of threats and manhandling. On the ground, most of the panchayat members sarpanch and even the BJP-affiliated local leaders are at loggerheads with local officers like engineers, health services and other such wings of the government.

In many places of Kashmir valley, local BJP leaders, some in Srinagar and Ganderbal districts, are accused of allegedly threatening officers and in some cases accused of land-grabbing incidents.