Strong policing nowhere: Bovine smugglers, drug peddlers, and anti-nationals never given a tough challenge by Poonch Police; Poor coordination and weak intelligence are causes of concern; will IGP Jammu address the issues as a priority?

SALIL RAINA

(POONCH TODAY NEWS)

POONCH: The J&K police have played a big role on the terror front, drug terrorism, tackling various crimes and other law and order issues everywhere in J&K, but as far as the border district of Poonch is concerned, the credibility of the Poonch police remained on the lower side during the last few years; as a result, it increased the confidence of the bovine smugglers and drug mafia to a considerable high level.

Some police officials did their best to earn a handsome share from the bovine smuggling mafia, and some blue-eyed officials also approached high-ups for their posting in Thanamndi and Surankote, especially in the Buffliaz-Pir ki Gali area, because this area is a hotbed of bovine smuggling. If the bovine smuggling remained a continued affair, then it’s not possible without the support of the police. Highly placed sources said that a police officer of another domain showed keen interest in this area, which is outside his domain, and he used to play a big role in the posting of officials there. The whole chain of officials worked in a tactful manner to generate a huge share, and this remained a continuous affair for long. Many police officials posted in the Rajouri-Poonch range over the years made fortunes from the bovine smuggling trade. This bovine smuggling mafia, with the help of some police officials, had the backing of their senior officers, and this is the reason that no strong action was ever taken against bovine smuggling over the years in the R-P range. Just to dodge the people, once in a blue moon, efforts used to be taken by police officials against bovine smuggling just to show the public through their paid agents/touts in media and social media that police were active against bovine smuggling. This bovine mafia is running its business smoothly, in which a few police officials, including some media persons, are involved, but unfortunately, no efforts were taken to stop this menace once and for all. Although, on the terrorism and drug mafia fronts, Poonch police officials have taken a few steps during LG’s 100-day war against drugs, but in general, they have failed to take strong action against the whole drug mafia and some forces inimical to peace in the district. The absence of strong policing during the recent years has decreased the morale of the common man in the district. There was a time when policing in the Poonch district remained strong during the tenures of L. Mohanty, R.R. Swain, Ashkoor Ahmed Wani, Rajeev Pandey, Yougal Manhas and Ramesh Angral, as all the officers proved their mettle during the tough times, but after that, the district has not witnessed strong and professional policing, as some officers were seen brazenly misusing their powers out of the way to fulfil their hidden designs to target their rivals. Although Dy.SP HQRS Neeraj Sharma, who remained a silent performer, has shown some promising policing during the recent past and has earned huge respect from people of every section of the society purely on merit, a similar approach is needed from others from district to range level to raise the credibility of J&K police in the eyes of the common man, as men with integrity are rare. Moreover, from the last few years, it has been seen that some questionable-credential people in the district, who are unfortunately considered important people for police in the social media and civil society setups, were involved in settling public issues in various police stations through their “middleman” type activities, and this also raised a big question mark on Poonch police. Such tainted people also have the backing of police officials for their day-to-day illegal activities by misusing their links with the police. This issue has become talk of the town about how some police officials are seen frequently with people of questionable credentials taking selfies. Are such people working as touts/agents or sources of police from district to range level? An impression has been generated among the public that such people run the police by giving poor feedback on various issues, and this factor also generated a negative impression in the minds of the common man about the lack of wisdom among the police officials of the Poonch police. In addition to this, the latest controversy of the shifting of former SHO Poonch for his debatable role in a case has lowered the reputation of Poonch police. Although the Poonch police earlier solved the case by exposing the evil designs of a businessman to target another jeweller, its other important factors which are still under investigation have lowered the reputation of the Poonch police, and that’s why the SHO was relieved with the intervention of top brass of J&K police in the Jammu zone. This jeweller shop rivalry episode in some sensational aspects has given a huge dent to the credibility of the Poonch police. The outgoing SHO and some of his predecessors reportedly formed good relations with the media fraternity by providing them every favour, because their hidden aims were big, for which some police officials are known, and the latest jewellery shop case is one such example. A highly placed source in police, on the condition of anonymity, said, “Media walon ko police se kya chaiye, sab jante hain aur kuch logon ko regular favour bhi milta hai. Ab woh police officers ke source hain yah kuch ander ki baat hai, yeh khuda jaane.” On tackling traffic-related issues, some police officers are seen near Nakhanwali Chowk off and on checking vehicles by calling their agents working on media and social media to show the people that police officials are active. Thanks to these social media agents of police, Nakhanwali Chowk is considered an entire district where police officials are seen doing regular checking, but what about other areas of the district? Police officials know that the said chowk is the city centre, and any activity will attract social media attention, as the majority of people in media and social media are just at the beck and call of the police officers because of getting various favours. Moreover, the drug mafia has captured the entire district, but the inability of the police to break this mafia completely also raises a big question mark on the professionalism of the Poonch police. The biggest concern right now is rising drug terrorism, as many youngsters lost their lives earlier due to drugs, and many are suffering from drug-related diseases, but the inability of the intelligence network of police and top police officials to eliminate this drug mafia from the district indicates that due to the absence of strong policing, the drug mafia has spread its tentacles in almost every part of the district. Some police officials over the years dodged everybody on the name of the war against drugs, but behind the curtains, they shamelessly earned a heavy favour from drug cases financially through a well-planned network of touts in media, and this shows that there was no shortage of crooked elements in the police. Even those involved in the drug trade were seen forming close links with the police officials, and this also generated a huge debate among the locals about the inefficiency of police officials. However, rising bovine smuggling trade, flourishing drug mafia, corrupt activities in some police stations, backdoor SPO recruitment against hefty favours and the inability of police to book forces inimical to peace have shown that the district needs strong policing to challenge these evils strongly to increase the reputation of police in the eyes of the common man. The district needs strong police officers, not selfie officers, as this issue also remains a topic of public debate that the majority of police officers are experts in taking selfies only and are least bothered about coming up to the expectations of the public as far as taking strong action against the drug mafia, the bovine mafia, corrupt activities and anti-national forces. Some police officers are also seen using their touts in media to run fake narratives against their professional competitors, whether they are junior or senior to them. Such touts used to get handsome favours from a few police officers for implementing their agenda on the ground through the fourth estate. One such case was reported recently in the JSK range, where a junior police officer was seen using his tout in media in a handsome manner in defaming his senior officer tactfully on the recent events in Jammu city. Moreover, in the larger interest of security, there is a need to strengthen the intelligence network of the police in the Rajouri-Poonch range, as the Poonch district is facing many challenges from an internal security point of view, but the absence of proper coordination and weak intelligence setup among police officers shows that the government has taken the Poonch district lightly, and it’s really a cause of concern. The district requires a strong team of professional police officers to take on all issues strongly to win the public’s confidence in the policing. In addition to terror cases, drug mafia, bovine smuggling, encouraging people with questionable credentials, not tackling forces inimical to peace strongly by police, and the aftermath activity in the latest jewellery shop case have lowered the credibility of Poonch police to a large extent, and it would be interesting to see how these public and internal security concerns of extreme importance will be addressed by the new IGP Jammu, Tejinder Singh (IPS), as he is considered a level-headed officer in police circles. These issues required top priority from the IGP Jammu in the interest of internal security issues of Poonch district, as the bovine smugglers, anti-nationals, corruption cases and drug peddlers have not given a tough challenge by the Poonch police yet.