As BJP terms its leader’s killing ‘security lapse’, J&K Police issues new security advisory

As the ruling BJP termed the recent killing of one of its leaders by the militants as “a security lapse”, Jammu and Kashmir Police have issued a fresh advisory to protected persons asking them not to venture out without proper security assessment.

“No protectee should go anywhere without PSOs. Visits are allowed only after ground assessment of local threats is done. The request is to all protectees not to violate SOPs and risk their lives unnecessarily (sic),” Kashmir police chief, Vijay Kumar, said in a tweet.

The fresh advisory came after the militants shot dead a BJP councillor, Rakesh Pandita, in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Wednesday night when he was visiting his friend’s house. Pandita had been provided with two personal security officers (PSOs) and secure accommodation in Srinagar by the authorities.

However, when militants attacked him, Pandita was without any PSO as he defied the standard operating procedure (SoP) and went to his native village in Pulwama without his security.

But the BJP general secretary Ashok Koul while terming Pandita’s killing a “security lapse” questioned why not security agencies were aware that three militants were roaming in the area?

“Is this not a security lapse?” he said and asked the government to admit lapses on its part.

Sources said after the incident a revamp in the security cover of protected persons has been started by J&K police and new SOPs are being formed to foil any bid from militants to target politicians, especially those associated with the Saffron party.

In 2020, five BJP leaders were killed in a spate of targeted killings by the militants. There was a review of the security arrangement and most of the BJP leaders had been provided with secured accommodation in Srinagar, besides two or three PSOs.

“If only two PSOs were with him (Pandita), they would have killed the militants before they killed him. The job of the police is to provide security to anyone who is on the target of militants,” a senior police officer told DH.

Asked whether there was any security lapse on part of the police in Pandita’s killing, he said, “If the protected person himself violates the SOPs, he becomes an easy target for the militants. Going to a volatile place like Pulwama without security and informing the concerned police is just like committing suicide,” the officer added.