The chief secretary BVR Subrahmanyam on Tuesday said the state administration is planning to increase the monthly honorarium of special police officers (SPOs), even as he asserted that the number of resignations of SPOs was “negligible” and “confined to certain pockets” in southern Kashmir.
Subrahmanyam’s remarks come days after several SPOs took to social media and announced their resignation from service following the abduction and killing of three policemen by suspected militants in southern Shopian district on Friday morning.
While the police top brass and government of India had categorically denied reports of resignation of SPOs as “mere propaganda”, the chief secretary said the number of such resignations was “negligible and confined to only certain areas in south Kashmir.” The killing of three policemen in Wangam village and subsequent resignation of SPOs come close on the heels of an audio message released by Hizbul Mujahideen’s operational commander Riyaz Niakoo, asking special police officials to “quit their jobs or get ready to face consequences.”