Srinagar: Governor Shri Satya Pal Malik on Sunday called for calm, underlining that the additional paramilitary forces, 100 companies so far, have landed for conducting elections and people should not heed to rumours.
“Normally, paramilitary forces are inducted a month before elections so that they settle down and familiarise with the ground situation. It is in this context that 100 companies of Central Forces are being inducted into the State at the moment. This is less than the actual additional forces required and more would be inducted in the coming weeks,” governor Malik said, according to an official spokesman here.
He said the governor called an “informal” meeting of the State Administrative Council to review the current situation in the State, particularly in the context of the attack in Pulwama last week and the subsequent developments.
The meeting was attended by Advisors, Vijay Kumar, K K Sharma and K Skandan, besides B V R Subrahmanyam, Chief Secretary, Umang Narula, Principal Secretary to Governor, R.K. Goyal, Principal Secretary, Information Department, Shaleen Kabra, Principal Secretary, Home; and Rohit Kansal, Principal Secretary, Planning and Monitoring Department.
“In the meeting, the Governor was briefed about the current security situation in Jammu city after the lifting of the curfew a few days ago and also the restoration of normalcy in the place. He was also informed of the situation in the Kashmir Valley and the gradual induction of additional Central Forces for election purposes.”
The spokesman said the Governor was informed that General Elections are imminent and the requirement of additional Security Forces is large.
“During the Panchayat Elections, over 400 additional companies of Central Police Forces were provided to conduct the Urban Local Body and Panchayat Elections over a total of 13 phases. In the presence of these forces and as a result of their efforts, the elections were conducted peacefully, without any incident.”
However, the spokesman said, there were many attempts during these elections to frighten people from participating in the political process. “Death threats were given by (militant) organisations to anyone planning to contest the election. Candidates were asked to go with their coffins to file nominations and that they should be prepared for their dead bodies to leave polling booths. Voters were also threatened with severe consequences if they came to vote.”
After the Pulwama incident, he said, the security concerns are much higher with the possibility of militant organisations increasing their activities against candidates and voters on a much larger scale.
“In this context, a much larger number of additional Police Forces are needed for conducting General Elections. Normally, forces are inducted a month before elections so that they settle down and familiarise with the ground situation. It is in this context that 100 companies of Central Forces are being inducted into the State at the moment. This is less than the actual additional forces required and more would be inducted in the coming weeks.”
The Governor appealed to the people that the induction of paramilitary forces be seen only in the context of conducting elections and should not be attributed to any other cause.
“The Governor appealed to the people not to believe in rumours of any extreme nature which are circulating widely in some quarters and to remain calm. These rumours are unnecessarily creating an atmosphere of fear in the minds of people, leading to stress and disruption to normal life.”
Rumours about curfews and other actions should not be believed, he said. “There is some security related action being taken by the (government) forces, but this is purely related to the Pulwama attack which is unprecedented one. The response of (government) forces is guided solely by the need to counter both the impact and any further action that may be taken by (militant) groups who are still out to disrupt our country and its democratic processes.”
