Security cover of 173, including 18 separatists, withdrawn or lowered

ANOTHER TOUGH SHOT

JAMMU: In a major development late Wednesday evening, Governor Satya Pal Malik’s administration stripped 18 more separatist leaders and as many as 155 political activists of security cover.

An official spokesman described the provision of security cover to these hitherto protected persons as wastage of already scarce resources of state which could be put to some better use.

Among those mainstream political activists who have lost security cover are former IAS officer Shah Faesal, who recently quit bureaucracy to join politics, and Wahid ur Rehman Parra, a close of aide of former Chief Minister and PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti.

Surprisingly, the names included that of pro-Pakistan separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani and JKLF chief Yaseen Malik, who had maintained that they never had any security, Shahid-ul-Islam and Nayeem Khan, who have been in jail for over a year now.

A security review meeting, which was held here under the chairmanship of state chief secretary BVR Subrahmanyam, took the decision as it was felt that providing security to these separatist leaders is a "wastage" of scarce state resources which could be better utilised elsewhere, an official spokesperson said.

Besides Geelani, Malik, Islam and Khan, the others named in the list are Aga Syed Mosvi, Maulvi Abbas Ansari and his son Masroor, Saleem Geelani, Zaffar Akbar Bhat, Mukhtar Ahmad Waza, Farooq Ahmed Kichloo, Aga Syed Abul Hussain, Abdul Gani Shah and Mohd Musadiq Bhat.

In addition, the security of 155 political persons and activists, who did not require the security provided to them based on their threat assessment and activities, was also withdrawn.

According to the officials, the list mainly comprises leaders from the People's Democratic Party (PDP), an ally of the BJP in the state government till June last year.

This includes Faesal, the 2010 IAS topper who quit bureaucracy to join politics, PDP leader Wahid Parra and Salman Reshi, the officials said.

Through this, over 1,000 police personnel and over 100 vehicles are freed to do regular police work, they said.

It was not immediately clear whose security had been withdrawn and downgraded.

The process of withdrawal of security began this Sunday when the state administration had taken away the security of four separatist leaders, including Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.

The decision comes in the aftermath of the February 14 Pulwama terror attack in which 40 paramilitary personnel were killed, officials said here.

Besides Mirwaiz, the security cover of Abdul Gani Bhat, Bilal Lone and Shabir Shah has been withdrawn, they said.

While there was no categorisation of security for these leaders, the state government in consultation with the Centre had provided them ad hoc security, keeping in mind the threat to their lives from some militant groups.

Militants of Hizbul Mujahideen had killed Umar's father, Mirwaiz Farooq, in 1990 and Abdul Gani Lone in 2002.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh, during his visit to Srinagar on last Friday, had said security given to people getting funds from Pakistan and its snooping agency ISI should be reviewed.

"Some elements in Jammu and Kashmir have links with the ISI and terrorist organisations. Their security should be reviewed," he had said after reviewing security in the aftermath of the dastardly terror attack.