Srinagar, May 31: Outgoing Director General of Police (DGP) Kuldeep Khoda Thursday said that militancy was in last phase in Jammu and Kashmir and police has played important role in last 22 years.
Khoda was talking to reporters on the sidelines of a function organized for his farewell. He attained superannuation Thursday after serving in Jammu and Kashmir Police for 38 years.
“Now there are militant foot soldiers and I hope JK Police will take on them,” DGP said adding that police has played pivotal role in tackling militancy. “We have lost more than 1500 men, including officers, policemen and SPOs in the fight against militancy,” he said.
Giving the break-up of number of active militants in the state, Khoda said 147 militants were presently active in Kashmir valley and around 100 in Jammu region. “Most of their commanders were killed in last year and an active hunt to track them was continuing,” he said. “I hope police will make an end to militancy by end of this year.”
The outgoing DGP said that while carrying out the anti-militancy operations, the force has always exercised maximum restraint. “We always wanted that no civilian was harassed or property was damaged during the operations,” he said and stressed upon the police force to come close to the people. “Give the people a sense of security. School children, traders, employees and other citizens must feel secure and that is the first and last job of police,” he said.
Khoda refused to answer the question regarding the demand of revocation of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from certain pockets of the Valley. “Our job was to bring peace and nothing else. Police has never indulged in AFSPA-like issues,” he said.
Earlier Khoda was presented guard of honor by contingents of police. Later he addressed hundreds of cops, including senior police officers, who had come to attend his farewell.
The volatile situation of 2008 and 2010 was one of the important parts of Khoda’s speech. He termed the situation of the two years one of the important challenges that J&K Police faced. “We tackled it successfully and I congratulate all the force for that wonderful job,” he said.
The outgoing DGP did not mention anything about the 120 civilian killings during 2010 summer, however said that Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) drafted to deal such unrest is a role model now. “Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) selected our SOP and other states of India have been asked to follow,” he said.
DGP Khoda said that to minimize the civilian casualties and injuries, J&K Police was now trained and equipped with non-lethal weaponry. “We have given training to cops about the non-lethal weapons. Even some officers were imparted with training in foreign countries,” he said.
The senior police officer said when he assumed charge as DGP, in first year there were more than one thousand militancy related incidents. “Now I think the current year would witness less than a hundred such incidents,” he said and stressed upon the police force to work with zeal and courage. “During my five-year tenure I tried to give police each and every facility and I hope that you people will work hard and with confidence,” he said.
Khoda thanked Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and Minister of State for Home for their continuous support to police.

Lastupdate on : Thu, 31 May 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Thu, 31 May 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Fri, 1 Jun 2012 00:00:00 IST