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| Union Home Ministry rings J&K; police, administration prefer deep slumber | | Preventing communal riots | | Syed Junaid Hashmi
Jammu, Nov 16: Despite repeated directions from Union Home Ministry, police as well as administrative set-up is unprepared to tackle communal riots, few of which recently shook entire Jammu region.
Instead of taking effective precautionary steps, it is more bothered about containing a communal riot. Union Home Ministry has issued a detailed advisory to the states across the country especially Jammu and Kashmir, asking police to remain vigilant and take effective steps for preventing the situation from turning ugly especially in the communally sensitive areas.
However, if the police and administrative sources are to be believed, onus is more on providing fool-proof security to the political leaders and their rallies. Entire police set-up is seen following one or the other political leader. Ministers and other VVIPs get most of the attention from the present police set-up. Even in highly communally sensitive districts of Kishtwar, Doda, Udhampur and Jammu; sources affirm that police is giving long rope to anti-social and communal elements.
These elements give Bandh calls; enforce the same with their might and the hapless administration watches from the fringes. Neither police nor the district administration bothers to take a look at the advisory issued by Union Home Ministry. If the sources are to be believed, political parties with an eye on the vote bank force police officials to dance to their tunes as and when it acts in accordance with the law.
Anti-social and communal elements alongwith anti-national ones get bailed out within days of being put behind the bars. Sources assert that state seems to be hand in glove with those who are hell bent on disturbing communal atmosphere. It is because of this reason that despite Union Home Ministry issuing a detailed advisory, most of the district administrators across the state are yet to initiate process of carefully assessing communal situation in their respective districts on a regular basis.
Most of the district administrators have not so far identified areas which are prone to communal sensitivities and tensions, inter alia, in the light of demographic profile; the existence of any structures, monuments around which there may be existing or potential disputes/controversies; any other disputes over land or any other issues which may have a potential for generating communal disputes/tensions; routes of processions which may have led to disputes or tensions in the past, or have such potential in future; history of past disputes, clashes and riots, and history of religious conversions/reconversions.
They had been told to declare these areas as sensitive or hyper-sensitive, which they have done so far. Police stations across the state are bereft of these details. Station House Officers (SHOs) and other senior officials at the police station level who have been advised to keep a close watch on the situation in such areas, apart from periodically visiting them for promoting public contact and interface with the civilian population and community leaders have not initiated this exercise vigorously.
Though communally sensitive places have been identified but police stations or posts are yet to be set-up in all sensitive/trouble-prone areas. State had been told to give special attention to developing mechanisms for intelligence and information gathering, and suitably integrating them with response mechanism. The intelligence feed back, especially from the ground level, is in most cases not effectively made use of by the administration. Despite having been told to develop independent sources of intelligence, district administration prefers relaying on official sources. |
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