Kashmir to see more bloodshed this year, says former J&K police chief

Srinagar

Former Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police Kuldeep Khoda said the killing of over 200 militants in the Valley would not “restore normalcy” in the state and predicted that the year would see more bloodshed than 2017. Khoda, who was J&K’s top cop between 2007 and 2012, was in New Delhi to attend a security conclave, said a report by Indian Express.

“The year 2018 is bound to be worse than 2017, where casualty of security forces is likely to cross 100,”   The Indian Express quoted Khoda saying. Eighty-two ‘security personnel’ were killed in 2016, while 80 died in 2017.

“The killing of over 200 militants by forces last year is a clear indication that there are more militants in the valley than previous years,” he said, while blaming “politicisation of events for vote bank politics and polarisation” as primarily responsible for the escalation of violence in the valley, the report said.

“As the DGP, I had sent a report to the Ministry of Home Affairs, stating that out of 22 districts in J&K, 19 were without any presence of militants…The only areas which had the presence of militants then were Pulwama, Kupwara and upper Ganderbal,” he said.

The former DGP also defended the use of pellets guns, claiming it to be the most-effective non-lethal weapon. “In 2010 agitation, we used pellet guns, but there was no outcry. It is possible that the boys (CRPF), who are using these pellets guns now, have not been trained or instructed properly to cause minimum damage,” he said, the report said.

A 1974-batch IPS officer from the Jammu and Kashmir cadre, Khoda was appointed the chief vigilance commissioner (CVC) of Jammu and Kashmir in 2013. During his stint as CVC, Khoda said: “I highlighted rampant corruption, nepotism, favouritism in the government. There are certain offices and certain desk where corruption breeds — like (the desks dealing with) scholarship for students, subsidies for various schemes, the reserved/backward area certificate, the revenue documents. We suggested the government to install CCTVs at these desks. If governance is good, a lot of irritants mind will be taken care of,” reported Indian Express.

Khoda also criticised the government for not being serious about stopping terror funding in the Valley. “In 2010, the Centre set up a committee headed by the Director Intelligence Bureau (IB) and members from other agencies, including RAW and Jammu and Kashmir police, but the committee never met to discuss terror funding,” he said, reported Indian Express.

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