J&K POLICE: ESTD. 1914, KASHMIRI MUSLIM CHIEFS: 2

By Alee Andrabi, Greater Kashmir
Srinagar, Aug 21: JK Police was established in 1914. For nearly a century now, we have had only two Kashmiri Muslim Police Chiefs. An ‘accomplishment’ in itself, for the ‘anti nationals’, that is. The legendary and celebrated Peer Ghulam Hassan Shah was the first Kashmiri Muslim to man the Police top job. His phenomenal rise from the lowest to the highest rank, along with an incredible performance is nothing short of an epic. But he took voluntary retirement because of the treatment he could not take. Treatment, that a legend he was, rather still is, did not deserve. Ghulam Jeelani Pandit was the other Kashmiri Muslim head cop. Although being an upright and devout Muslim, he probably got the ‘benefit of doubt’ because of his surname. However, this memoir too had a blue ending when he was transferred with the eruption of militancy in the state. Obviously, for ‘reasons of national security’. All said, there have been four Kashmiri Police Chiefs overall including Dwarika Nath Koul, a scholar cop and of course the present Director General Kuldeep Khoda. It becomes imperative to get in the Sachar Committee Report in here. As has been already specified, for fair comparison the population composition in West Bengal and the respective representation makes a perfect analogy to the scenario in our state. The population composition in Bengal is exactly the opposite to that of Jammu & Kashmir as far as the Hindus and Muslims are concerned. Now imagine, if West Bengal had only two Hindu Police Chiefs over a century. No doubt, we would have had a dozen Bengals by now instead of just two! But our very own Kashmir has been made to play second fiddle to ‘everyone’ and ‘everything’. And, we have sincerely obliged. Without a revolt. Without even a squawk. And of course, without ‘Civil Disobedience’ to keep up with the modern day protocol of protests across Chenab. The fact is that the ‘alleged discriminator’ is in fact the ‘actual casualty’. The menacing wolf has always been the vulnerable lamb. The irrelevant Kashmiriyat has been a keep of the ‘jingoistic’ Ek Vidhaan, Ek Pradhan, Ek Nishan. Eternally. Moving on, the current Law and Order Management deserves a ‘tribute’ considering how indispensable it is for a critical and volatile territory like ours. The entire Law and Order bandobast is manned by ‘nationalistic forces’. Of course, Kuldeep Khoda is a genuine Kashmiri but then the Pandit representation is not a part of the discourse and discrimination. One hates this comparison but it looks like an Italian management of a Libyan Law and Order situation with no local component. I am sure by now the bogey of discrimination fuelled by the proclamations of ‘nationalistic forces’ must have come home indeed to haunt them. But that is not our concern. For us, this dishonest unethical fallacy is done and dusted! What we seek now, are answers, some serious ones. Addressing our marginalization. Our alienation. Our estrangement. Our voiceless-ness. Our empowerment. Our representation. Our emancipation. And yes, our discrimination. We are no match on the propaganda front, no one to hear us out, no one to back us up. No Advani. No Togadia. Not even a Sonia Gandhi. No Manmohan Singh. No V P Singh. Or Jyoti Basu. Anyone who voices our desperate predicament, be it a former Home Minister of India or a former BJP ally at the Centre, no distinction would be made between them and Sayed Sallahudin. Still, for the optimists we are, we wait for light at the end of this sixty year long dark tunnel. With the Kashmiri representation in Judiciary and Administration already been spelled out, the representation of ‘anti nationals’ in Police is very much a give away. The numbers are just for the record, as they say. The Gradation List of IPS Cadre boasts of 7 Director Generals (DG). Only 2 are Kashmiris in the avatar of Rajinder Tickoo and Kuldeep Khoda. The rest are from outside the state managing law, order and not to forget, Kashmiris. One Kashmiri, Dr A K Bhan, figures amongst the 2 Additional Director Generals (ADG), the other being R V Raju. Out of the 22 Inspector Generals (IG), the ‘anti national’ quarter gets 4, the ‘pro national’ quarter is one up at 5 and the rest being from outside the state. For the 20 Deputy Inspector Generals (DIG), the composition is yet again uncomfortable to say the least. Jammu with its share of 8 DIGs overpowers Kashmir, which has only 5. Moving on to the SPs within the IPS Cadre out of the total 62 Jammu gets 21, the digits reverse as Kashmir gets 12 and Ladakh 2. The rest 27, all outsiders. Way to go! The beat goes on as we go down the hierarchy. The State Police Service employs 139 SPs. ‘Minority’ Jammu gets an overwhelming 87, ‘majority’ Kashmir a shabby 46 and Ladakh chips in with 3. The DSPs of the State Cadre stand at 224. Kashmir gets an unusual 112, Jammu nearly ‘there’ at 108 and Ladakh gets 3. Closing this with Inspectors holding the post of DSPs. Out of the total 93, Jammu gets 55, Kashmir a ‘fabulous’ 37 and 1 is from Ladakh. Well then. The results are out. Incredible Jammu! Standing ovation, please! Protesting, or even analyzing, these ‘discriminating’ figures would be futile. Look at the larger picture, stupid! Was it not for this overwhelming ‘pro national’ composition in the Police force, the atoot ang wouldn’t be atoot anymore. At least this seems to be the apprehension. There in comes the need to tag Jammu along with Kashmir in a forced, insincere and inconvenient wedlock.