MARCHING TOWARDS NEW HEIGHTS
 

Dear colleagues,

Like the previous years, 2008 too was a year full of challenges for Jammu and Kashmir Police. We met all these challenges successfully with courage, dedication and fortitude. First, there was an attempt to vitiate the centuries old peace and brotherhood on an issue which has all along remained a bond of trust and integration a shinning symbol of the State’s pluralistic ethos. You also know that earlier in Kashmir Valley and later in Jammu region, the situation remained disturbed, which called for careful handling. The Jammu and Kashmir Police, true to its tradition, rose to the occasion and demonstrated great professionalism, discipline and resolve; and succeeded in restoring peace in the State. Everyone is appreciative of the way the police tackled the sensitive situation. The police avoiding resorting to excessive use of force handled the situation with patience, though on several occasions, the jawans and officers had to face provocative situations resulting in injuries to many personnel of the force. But, we never lost our cool and calm.

Another formidable challenge was of creating a congenial atmosphere where people could exercise their right of franchise in a free, fair and transparent manner without any fear.

I congratulate all ranks of the force and say with a sense of pride that it was sincere effort and cooperation extended by one and all that an environment was created in which all the political parties and the candidates conducted their election campaign in a big way across the State and people elected their representatives to the Legislative Assembly. I am proud of the service rendered by the jawans and officers of Jammu and Kashmir Police, especially during the entire election process, even at the threat to their lives, which resulted in record number of candidates contesting the assembly elections.

Militancy continues to be an area of concern and Jammu and Kashmir Police is determined to tackle this menace firmly and in a more professional manner. The force has made a mark in the entire country for its fight against militancy in the State. During the year 2008, the State Police succeeded in neutralizing a number of self-styled militant commanders and other terrorist leaders. In anti-militancy operations across the State, around 350 militants were killed this year.

For the first time in the militancy history of nearly two decades in the State, the number of incidents came below 4-digit figure to around 700. In fact this year witnessed a phenomenal drop of 40% in terrorist incidents compared to last year, which is again an all time high achieved during last 20 years.

A remarkable measure of our success in war against terror is that the number of civil causalities came down considerably with minimum collateral damage during operations. Consequently, we had lowest number of civilian causalities this year of below 100 for the first time in the entire period of militancy.

Together with the people of the State, who supported us in eradicating the menace of terrorism, we maintained a constant operational pressure on the terrorists and elements of mayhem and succeeded in weakening the terror infrastructure in the State.

This year also witnessed best ever performance of the police and security forces on the human right preservation.

Jammu and Kashmir Police has emerged as a leading terror-fighting organization, with dynamism and professionalism being the hallmarks of its success. I salute the martyrs, who gave their today for our tomorrow and compliment you all for striving to carry forward their unfinished task and keeping the flag of J&K Police flying high.

Our professional expertise in providing conducive security environment in the prevailing security scenario is reflected specially in:

     The visits of H.E. the President of India. Hon’ble Prime Minister, and other VVIPs;

     Holding of several successful National and International Conferences and Seminars in the State;

     Public meetings by political parties;

     Visits of PoK trade delegations;

     Shri Amarnah Yatra in which a record number of over 5 lakh pilgrims participated;

     Handling of statewide nearly 3 month long agitation on Amar Nath Shrine land issue.

     Security and other allied arrangements for successful conduct of Assembly elections.

The Jammu and Kashmir Police forms an important component of the security grid across the State and the peaceful conduct of the events is a testimony of the foolproof security arrangements made thereof. Your capabilities and resolute approach have helped imbibing a sense of security and restoring confidence among the people of the State, which is indeed praiseworthy.

As part of its social responsibility and civic action programme, the J&K Police has been undertaking tours of students and other segments of the society to various historical places of the country. During the year, a number of students from various parts of the State were taken on Bharat Darshan.

Due attention is being paid to promote sports in the force, as it imbibes the spirit of camaraderie among the personnel. In various National and International Tournaments, All India Police Martyrs’ Memorial Hockey Tournament, Inter-Battalion Sports Meet, Inter-Zone Sports Meet and championships in different disciplines were organized in Srinagar and Jammu during the year. We created history this year when one of our mountaineers Constable Ram Singh conquered the highest peak of the world “Mount Everest” with an Indian team in the wee hours of May 22nd and unfurled the flag of Jammu and Kashmir Police atop the Everest. In this expedition, mountaineer Sajad Haider, reached upto the Advance Camp.

During 2008, our continued thrust was on the welfare of jawans and several welfare measures were taken in this regard. An amount of Rs. 11,97,70,311 was made available for providing relief to the jawans in terms of special relief to the NOKs of Police Martyrs, ex-gratia relief to injured police personnel/NOKs of deceased SPOs, relief to the serving and retired personnel, medical relief to jawans and SPOs, welfare loans, scholarships and meritorious scholarships to the wards of serving personnel. Under the relief sector, Rs. 11,61,30,850 were provided. While loans to the tune of Rs. 19,24,000 were sanctioned and reimbursed under the various other schemes. For encouraging literacy among the wards of the police force, scholarships of Rs.14,47,544 were sanctioned while under other welfare schemes Rs. 2,67,917 were provided to the jawans.

Similarly, as a step forward, the decision regarding enhancement of ration money was implemented in letter and spirit.

Besides taking several other measures for ensuring better career prospects for all ranks of the force, as many as 177 promotions in Gazetted Service and 934 in Non-Gazetted cadres were ordered during the year. These include 2 Additional Directors General promoted as Directors General, 5 Deputy Inspectors General as Inspectors General, 10 IPS Officers have been awarded selection grades, 11 Officers were placed in Junior administrative Grade, 2 Offices have been given senior Time Scale of IPS, 38 Deputy Superintendents of Police promoted as Superintendents of Police and 68 Inspectors from Executive and Ministerial Cadres have been promoted as Deputy Superintendents of Police,

In the Prosecution Wing, 1 Deputy Director has been promoted as Joint Director, 5 Chief Prosecuting Officers as Deputy Directors, 8 Senior Prosecuting Officers as Chief Prosecuting Officers and 25 Prosecuting Officers as Senior Prosecuting Officers.

In the Telecommunication Wing, 1 Deputy Superintendent of Police promoted as Superintendent of Police and 1 Inspector has been promoted as Deputy Superintendent of Police.

Likewise, in the Non-Gazetted service, several promotions in different wings of the various cadres were effected which include 150 Sub-Inspectors as Inspectors, 79 Assistant Sub-Inspectors as Sub-Inspectors, 139 Head Constables as Assistant Sub-Inspectors, 283 Selection Grade Constables (SGCTs) as Head Constables and 279 Constables as SGCTs.

Our mission has been to enhance the effectiveness of the force and introduction of the latest Information Technology at all levels to keep pace with the changing global scenario. During the year, the department has facilitated the efficiency in the functioning of all district Headquarters, Sub-Divisional Offices, Police Stations and other subordinate offices by providing them hardware and software. This has improved information retrieval and maintenance of data-bases pertaining to day-to-day office records and computer networking of the department.

In addition to opening up of two new Primary Police Public Schools, one each at Leh and Kargil, the existing Police Public Schools in Srinagar and Jammu were equipped with latest facilities for providing quality education to the children of police personnel. Professional and qualified teachers were selected for these schools.

The Police Hospitals in Jammu and Srinagar have been fully equipped with latest diagnostic and treatment facilities. Sufficient staff has been ensured to provide better medicare to the police personnel and their families. Medicines have been made available from standard and reputed firms.

In an effort to strengthen and sustaining the growth of the Forensic Science Laboratories (FSLs) in Jammu and Srinagar, latest equipment like Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrophotometer (FTIR) with Zinc Selenide Optics, Alpha-T, FT-IR Spectrometer with Universal Sampling Module, Fluoroscope equipment Ultra Light Basic Kit and Leica Comparison Microscope have been provided for enhancing the efficacy of the investigations. These equipments are designed to save valuable analysis time in the Laboratories and suggest the next step during measurement process, for examination of the finger prints of the criminal and for quantifying microscope images, simultaneous display of image and use interface, display and analysis of colour of monochrome images, etc.

To generate the resources for the welfare of jawans and their families, two grand Police Public Melas were organized at Srinagar and Jammu. These Melas have now become house-hold names in the entire State with the people looking for these events with a sense of keenness.

Jammu and Kashmir Police has a brilliant record on Human Rights. It gives me immense satisfaction to share with you that we have been ensuring that innocent civilians are not harmed in any way while dealing with the situation.

With a view to equip the police with better accommodation and other facilities, a mega construction activity has been undertaken across the State while several other projects are in the pipeline. New prestigious Police Headquarters (PHQ) building has been constructed at Srinagar and commissioned in October. Special care has also been taken for raising official and residential accommodation at district, sub-divisional, tehsil, block, police station and police post levels at a large scale. Barracks too have been constructed to facilitate the jawans.

Under Alternate Accommodation Pogramme for the security forces, 12 barracks (double/three storeyed) were constructed at Pampore, Midoora Tral, Devsar Kulgam, Yaripora, Warunhall Anantnag, District Police Lines Baramulla, Keeri Pattan, and District Police Lines Handwara. These were commissioned and many more are in the process of construction which shall be shortly complete

Under Modernization Programme, barracks were also constructed at DPL Kathua, Lakhanpur and Tangmarg during the year. Besides, office and residential accommodation for officers and jawans were constructed at Pirbagh Srinagar, Kehribal Mattan, Hndwara, Ganderbal, Kulgam, Anantnag, Misuma, Baramulla, Uri, Jammu, Mohanpur, Kreeri Pattan, Bloond Kathua, Poonch, Chrari-i-Sharief, Badgam, Magam, Tangmarg, Choglamsar and Leh.

Under Border Area Development Programme, barrack accommodation was constructed at Banyari, Mahreen and Gujjar-nar.

Special emphasis is also being laid to constantly upgrade the professional skills of all ranks of the force by organizing special training courses at Sher-i-Kashmir Police Academy (SKPA) and other Police Training Institutions in the State. This year, 8884 officers and jawans were trained in various departmental courses. As many as 333 Officers and jawans were also deputed to Training Institutions outside the state for special training courses while as three officers were deputed to foreign countries to participate in different professional courses.

We are a large police family and our strength is increasing day-by-day. There was a long felt need for creation of additional posts in Traffic and Railway Wings in the organization. This year, the Government created 4058 new posts for these wings. For Traffic Wing, 1433 posts have been created which include one Deputy Inspector General, four Superintendents of Police, 23 Deputy Superintendents of Police, 59 Inspectors, 149 Sub-Inspectors, 151 Assistant Sub Inspectors, 200 Head Constables and 846 Selection Grade Constables/Constables against existing 859 posts.

Similarly, in the Railway Police, 2625 posts have been created which include one Deputy Inspector General, three Superintendents of Police, 10 Deputy Superintendents of Police, 16 Inspectors, 88 Sub-Inspectors, 142 Assistant Sub Inspectors, 309 Head Constables, 24 Selection Grade Constables, 1922 Constables and 112 Followers against the existing 442 posts.
Jammu and Kashmir Police will soon have five more IRP Battalions for which the Government has accorded sanction. As such 5035 posts will be created for these battalions, which include 20 Superintendents of Police, 35 Deputy Superintendents of Police, 40 Inspectors, 135 Sub-Inspectors, 115 Assistant Sub-Inspectors, 820 Head Constables, 3505 Constables and 335 Followers.

With the changing perception, in the Telecommunication Sector, the Wireless Network in the organization has been strengthened. This year 120 Port Digital Exchanges have been expanded upto 325 ports. Latest wireless sets, having earphone facility, have been procured exclusively for training purposes to jawans and officers. These sets were provided to all Police Training Institutions. To ensure smooth conduct of movement of VVIPs/VIPs and in order to maintain better communication, latest UHF 400 MHZ Wireless Sets were provided to the SSG Wing. Far-flung areas of the state were also covered by providing latest VHF Low Band Hand Wireless sets.

I am fully aware of the situation in which our police force is discharging its duties. It would be our resolve and constant effort to do as much as is within our resources, for providing a better working environment to the jawans and officers of the force.

Our mission is to restore complete peace and normalcy in the State so that every member of the society leads a peaceful life, with their rights fully safeguarded. We will continue to create a well protected environment, free from fear and violence, for dignified living of our people. Let us take a pledge to strive to uphold the honor of the organization by displaying exemplary conduct and discipline in order to maintain the public trust. Let’s devote ourselves in contributing to the effective governance of Jammu and Kashmir so that the people of the State enjoy the fruits of democracy.

I wish a very happy new year to you and your families. The best way of celebrating the new year would be to take a pledge to ensure lasting peace in the State and serve the people with enhanced enthusiasm for which the Jammu and Kashmir Police is known all over the country.

Happy New Year.