SRINAGAR: The Army took control of the police headquarters and the Jammu and Kashmir Armed Police Lines here and disarmed the agitating policemen in a predawn swoop last week. The operation was swift and smooth with no shot being fired.
Curfew was imposed in Srinagar on April 28 to preempt possible violent reactions to the Army’s action against the policemen. The situation is under control.
The Army broke the boundary wall on the rear side of the police headquarters at 4 am. And a bullet proof vehicle (called bunker) entered the premises followed by soldiers on foot. The soldiers immediately took over the armory. An estimated 100 armed policemen who had taken up position behind and around the front gate were taken unawares and laid down arms without resistance.
At 5:15 “am.) Brig.K.P.Pandyan walked into the police chief, B.S.Bedi’s office to inform him that the operation was over. A relieved Bedi, who along with the additional chief secretary (home), Mahmood ur Rehman, and other officials had been held hostage by the agitating policemen, hugged the brigadier and thanked him for the smooth operation.
The Army and the BSF had laid siege to the police headquarters when the agitating policemen turned violent and were about to storm the DGP’s office. The armed policemen remained in battle readiness while about 1,000 of their colleagues kept shouting slogans all through the night before their ultimate surrender.
Bedi as also other officers ting with him had fear there might be some casualties during the operation, Senior officers had reported to him that | the policemen would storm his office and set it on fire once the Army entered the police headquarters, The DGP, though obviously worried, put up a brave: face. He even recited a few couplets from Ghalib and Faiz (both Urdu poets) and cracked some jokes.
Earlier that morning, the additional chief secretary (home), Rahman, made a last minute effort to avert possible bloodshed and to hammer out a settlement with the policemen half an hour before the Army operation began. But even as he was getting in touch with the Army top brass to get the operation delayed, the soldiers moved in.
But for the swiftness of the Army operation, the DGP and other senior officers would have come to harm because the IGP, A.Fury, had told him that the CRPF personnel showed lack of courage al the crucial stage.
At one stage when there was a commotion during the Army operation, the police chief, along with other officers and reporters, lay on the floor of his office room. “Pray to God there are no casualties,” he said.
Interestingly, Col.Eranne, blamed for the killing of a constable, Riyaz Ahmed, in Army custody, which sparked off the six day long agitation by the policemen, was among the officers leading the operation. Even after the policemen had surrendered, they continued shouting slogans such as “We want justice.”
Article extracted from this publication >> May 7, 1993
