SPO recruitments during Mehbooba regime under scanner

Police and intelligence agencies are trying to investigate the recruitment of all the SPOs during PDP-BJP coalition government, after receiving some intelligence inputs that there has been some infiltration by terror outfits during such recruitments especially in South Kashmir.

Intelligence agencies are also working on the leads about the former terrorists, especially the surrendered ones, either joining back the terrorist ranks or acting as over-ground workers of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Toiba in the Kashmir valley.

According to J&K Police and their CID wing, so far they have information about eight terrorists who had surrendered joined back the terrorist ranks in the Valley. They claim that now the vigil on all the surrendered terrorists has been intensified and all the police stations and the CID wings have been told to keep a tab on the activities of all such elements in villages.

In the recent past, Army and security forces came to know during some busting of terrorist modules that some surrendered terrorists were trying to help the present terrorists to survive and to execute terror attacks in many ways.

Reports said that security grid has asked all the security agencies on ground to give feedback about the activities of surrendered terrorists in their respective areas. Recently, police told security grid that a surrendered terrorist, Muhammad Iqbal Ganai, in South Kashmir has joined Laskhar-e-Toiba last May.

Police and intelligence agencies have started verifying credentials of SPOs recruited during Mehbooba Mufti regime. Such exercise has been taken in the backdrop of SPOs of J&K Police deserting with eight weapons and joined Hizb. BJP earlier has blamed PDP for helping terrorist sympathisers get recruited as SPOs in J&K Police. The SPO, who deserted with weapons, was posted with PDP MLA Ajaz Ahmad Mir. He was later grilled by police.

According to police sources, over 10,000 SPOs were recruited on the recommendation of ministers and lawmakers during PDP-BJP regime in 2017. A senior police officer claimed that this was done by Mehbooba regime despite clear-cut instructions from Union Home Ministry that this process of recruitment should be without any political interference.

The police officer further said that when the screening would be over, they will submit the report to the higher-ups for the action, and added that he cannot rule out that many SPOs being disengaged after confirming their antecedents.