JK CM Lauds police sacrifices in restoration of peace

by Vijay Kumar October 21, 2009

Srinagar, October 21 (Vijay Kumar) – Paying rich tributes to the martyrs of police force, J&K Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah on Wednesday said that their sacrifices have resulted in better security situation and improvement in the law and order in the State. “Much improvement has taken place since 1990 and the acts of violence and militancy have been checked to a greater extent by the endeavours and sacrifices of security forces especially the personnel of Jammu and Kashmir Police”, he said and expressed the hope that the peace and tranquility will firmly root in the State with the passage of time and a day will come when no violent act takes any precious life.

Omar Abdulla was addressing at Police Commemoration Day at Zewan about 20 kms from Srinagar. The October 21 is observed as police day to commemorate the martyrdom of police force and the sacrifices of officers and jawans for the safety and protection of the country and life and property of the people.

Asserting that problems are not solved through the barrel of gun or bloodshed, Chief Minister expressed hope that the resumption of internal talks between Centre and the State would be result-oriented. “There is a need to assess and analyze the earlier dialogue processes and carry forward it with an aim to achieve the result”, he added.

Omar said that the external dialogue process between India and Pakistan should not break but efforts be made to resume it once again. He said table is only platform to put forth viewpoints and work out amicable solution to all issues. “There have been three wars between India and Pakistan and the State has witnessed 20 years’ of saga of bloodshed but nothing has emerged other than miseries and loss of precious human lives”, he said and strongly advocated internal and external dialogue processes for resolving the problems.

The Chief Minister welcomed the Central Government’s decision to begin internal dialogue between Centre and the State and expressed hope that the process of interaction between India and Pakistan will also resume soon.

Reiterating the government’s firm determination to uphold human rights and curb any attempt at rights’ violation, the Chief Minister asked the men in uniform to be loyal to the oath they have taken to protect the human lives and render justice to all without any consideration. “There is overwhelming number of police jawans and officers who strictly abide by the constitution, provisions of police manual, respect the oath they have taken and give honour to the uniform they wear, but there are certain elements who bring bad name to the entire force by their ugly acts”, he said and added that while the government would be at the back of scrupulous and law abiding majority of police force, the bad elements causing damage and bringing stigma to police force will not be tolerated.

Omar emphasized the need for providing all assistance and help to the families of martyrs in their rehabilitation and life process. He said measures should be made for the welfare of the families of jawans and officers who have lost their lives for the cause of the nation.

Speaking on the occasion, the Director General Police, Kuldeep Khuda said that the observance of Police Commemoration Day in Jammu and Kashmir is the part of celebrations of the day throughout the country. “Today, we assemble to remember our martyrs and pay them homage for their sacrifices to safeguard the sovereignty and integrity of the country”, he said adding that the day has its origin in the event of October 21, 1959 when 10 CRPF personnel laid their lives while repulsing the Chinese attack at hot springs in Ladakh.

Khuda said that during the period from 01.09.2008 to 31.08.2009 as many as 821 State Police and para-military forces personnel laid their lives throughout the country defending the sovereignty of India. This includes 36 personnel of J&K Police force. He said 5279 personnel of police and security forces sacrificed their lives while fighting militancy in the State during last 20 years. These include 889 personnel of J&K Police, 470 SPOs and 131 VDCs.

The Director General Police giving details of the welfare measures initiated by the Police Department for the families of martyrs said that each martyr family is provided with Rs. 6 lakh from Police Welfare Fund, Rs. 5 lakh as ex-gratia relief, Rs. 7000 each under Savera Scheme besides scholarship and free education to the wards of martyrs in Police Public Schools at Jammu and Srinagar. Each family also gets Rs. 2.5 lakh SLI raising the total amount to Rs. 13.5 lakh.

Earlier, the role of honour containing the names of martyrs was carried in a procession of march past to the martyrs commemoration statue. The entire gathering present on the occasion remained standing in honour of the martyrs. The various contingents of J&K Police force gave guard of honour to the martyrs and police band played the music befitting the martyrs.

Present among others were the Minister for Agriculture, Ghulam Hassan Mir, Advisors to Chief Minister, Mubarak Gul and Devender Singh Rana, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Khurshid Ahmad Ganai, Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Ms Naseem Lanker and high ranking officers of police and civil administration.

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