4 new police stations for J&K to curb terror

Move triggered due to rise in militant activities.

NT Correspondent

Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Saturday detained political leaders, including three former chief ministers, to foil a protest called by the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) against the proposal of the Delimitation Commission on increasing six assembly seats in he Jammu division and one in Kashmir.

The PAGD, a conglomerate of J&K political parties had last month announced they would hold a protest in Srinagar against the delimitation commission report and had termed the draft “divisive.”

“Good morning & welcome to 2022. A new year with the same J&K police illegally locking people in their homes & an administration so terrified of normal democratic activity. Trucks parked outside our gates to scuttle the peaceful @JKPAGD sit-in protest,” former chief minister Omar Abdullah wrote on Twitter. “Some things never change.”

With Srinagar of late becoming a hub of militant activities, the J&K government on Saturday ordered the creation of four new police stations and the upgradations of three police posts in the Srinagar district.

An order issued by J&K Home Department on late Saturday night said that sanction has been accorded to the creation of a new police station in Shalteng, Sangam, Khimber, Tengpora areas of the city.

Similarly, three police posts i.e in Bemina, Chanapora and AhmadNagar has been now upgraded to full-fledged police stations.

One new police station will also come up in Mouchwa area of Central Kashmir’s Budgam district. The summer capital Srinagar last year saw a massive surge in militant activities. Many areas that were earlier considered free from militant activities again saw the return of militants and attacks.

2021 also saw targeted attacks on minority communities that triggered fresh migration of non-locals from the city and different parts of Kashmir.

A senior JK police officer told NewsTrail that the rise of militancy is one of the reasons behind the new decision. “The need was felt after reviewing the factors like growing population, large jurisdiction of some police stations and rise in militancy activities, etc,” he said. “With the new police units in Srinagar, it will help in better policing.”

Saturday’s order also said the territorial jurisdiction of these police units will be notified later.