Cops won't shed tears if SOG is dissolved

JAMMU: Policemen with the Special Operations Group (SOG) and the Special Task Force (STF) are indifferent to the People''s Democratic Party''s suggestion to disband these counter-insurgency components.
Most of them said that it would be good riddance for them as they had served in dangerous situations for too long and that disbanding would give them some respite.
"What hurts most is that we (SOG/STF staff) bore the brunt of the militants'' wrath, made sacrifices, and are still being vilified. Lack of a clear transfer policy means senior officers forget you once you are posted to STF/SOG. Some policemen have been serving in these counter-insurgency units for over eight years continuously. In the Army, the jawans and officers do alternative ''field'' and ''peace'' postings. No such rules exist in the state police and one can rot in the SOG/STF for years," a senior police officer said.
Several other officers alleged that there was a strong regional bias, and men drawn from the Jammu region were more likely to get difficult SOG/STF postings than their counterparts from the Kashmir Valley.
"At the district level, the STF is headed by SP (operations) and presently SP (Ops) of Pulwama, Baramullah and Srinagar, namely Sewa Singh Mankotia, Deepak Kumar Slathia and Sheikh Mehmood, respectively, all hail from the Jammu region," they said.
"Besides, the STF set-ups in Kupwara, Budgam and Anantnag are headless because the posts of SP (Ops) have been lying vacant there. In fact, even in these districts, the STF units are headed by DSPs drawn from the Jammu region," a senior IPS officer, familiar with STF functioning, said.
Since 1993-94, when the STF/SOG was constituted when M N Sabherwal headed the state police, very few, if any, Kashmiri officers have worked as SP (Ops).
It is men like Farooq Khan, Ashkoor Wani and now Sheikh Mehmood (all drawn from the Jammu region), besides Manohar Singh, Manmohan Singh and a host of others have led the counter-insurgency operations for stints, the officer pointed out.
Incidentally, since the STF/SOG personnel are involved in carrying out anti-militancy operations, the number of fatalities in these postings is the highest.
Some senior police officers, asked why they preferred to post men from Jammu region to STF/SOG, said: "If we post Kashmiris to SOG/STF units, it can endanger the lives of their families and relatives living in remote parts of the Valley. Of course, some Kashmiri officers have indeed done stints with these units. Even today, there are some like Altaf Ahmed Shah (a resident of Kupwara), posted as sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) in Bhaderwah (Doda district) involved in counter-insurgency operations."
A sub-inspector from Baramullah district working in SOG says: "The participation of Kashmiri policemen in the counter-insurgency operations at the lower levels has been very good. Protectionism starts only at the level of DSP and above. If some of my friends from Kashmir can''t work in the Valley, why not post them in counter-insurgency units at Rajouri, Poonch, Reasi, Mahore, Basohli, Marwah and Dachan etc in Jammu range?"
A DSP from Jammu working with the SOG, on the other hand, said that policemen from Kashmir range were present in fairly large numbers in the money-spinner traffic wing.
"If they can work in the traffic wing in Jammu, why can''t they go to Doda, Poonch, Rajouri, etc, for counter-insurgency duties? In fact, it wouldn''t be a bad idea to give a stint in counter-insurgency, followed by a stint in the traffic wing and vice-versa," he said.