DOST KHAN
Jammu: Who is bothered whether the son of National Conference Provincial President for Kashmir and former Minister of State Home Nasir Aslam Wani has passion for joining the police or any other organisation? The worrisome fact about his brandishing a gun raises several questions, especially on the deployment of police and paramilitary forces in a sensitive state like Jammu and Kashmir, which is reeling under the veil of terrorism. Being juvenile the name of the brat cannot be revealed who bragged of his and his father’s position on a social networking site. In the pictures, he could be seen in the company of police and security forces’ personnel who ironically posed in the same posture the minor son of the politician did. It is not known what action has been taken or initiated by the respective forces against the jawans who allowed themselves to dance over the tunes of a politician’s son. This is none of their duty, which they are supposed to know or having been told while being deployed. If not, then it is all the more a worrisome factor keeping in view the misuse of security guards by protected persons.
This sordid episode of VIP brat brandishing a gun unfolds the crucial need of reviewing security cover of protected persons and issuing Standard Operation Procedure (SOP) for the personnel and guard commanders.
In the instant case, action is required to be needed against those brandishing AK-47 alongside the politician’s son. This will prove a deterrent and serve as a terse message to all those with self-styled VIPs till SOP is formulated. It is important to know who gave him the gun and at what risk or motivation.
Nasir Wani’s bizarre defence for his son that politicians and film-stars are used to pose with security personnel along with sophisticated weapons does not hold a point, as possessing a most sophisticated gun by a minor is fraught with danger. His son is not the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces either, as Wani cited the example of former President Pratibha Patil posing for a photograph in Jammu and Kashmir with an AK-47 gun in May 2008. Nobody has grouse with spoiled brats of politicians, bureaucrats or police officers brandishing licensed weapons as they form privileged sections of the society but making illegitimate use of uniformed personnel is highly objectionable.
Nasir Wani should remember that the security personnel are deployed to protect him from terrorists, most of them belonging to the Valley itself. They are the youth of his son’s age who have been indoctrinated by the enemies of nation to take guns for waging war against Indian nation. Wani should be seen working towards attempts to neutrilise the impact of so-called Jihad that has enamored hundreds of youngsters.
“My son has a passion to join police force and serve the nation. The gun was not loaded and merely holding it does not amount to any violation,” Wani has responded to the media queries while accusing them of ‘making a mountain out of a molehill’. Will he let the nation know as a former Home Minister whether police personnel of security forces are allowed to part with their weapons to private persons-in this case a minor?
The growing incidents of VIP brats showing off their status to impress fellow youngsters are assuming dangerous propositions in Jammu and Kashmir. Instances of misusing the security cover by families of protected persons are rampant with people wondering as to whether there is any mechanism to check this menace-a new craze of social status.
The protected persons are normally required to take precaution because of looming threat to their ‘precious’ lives but instead they are making show of their security at social functions, marriages and even grim occasions like
mourning. On maddening roads of the capital cities in Srinagar and Jammu, these security personnel can be seen paving way for the passage of their ‘valuable commodities’ even at the cost of inconvenience to the commuters and private vehicle pliers.
There has never been a political or administrative will to reassess the threat perception as both politicians and bureaucrats have been the main beneficiaries of this ‘social status’ at the cost of poor tax payer.
Above all, the misuse of security personnel has also created a section with vested interest within the police force itself, as they are saved from carrying out rigorous duties.
The civil society has been craving for getting rid of this menace but for the fear of wrath of political bosses and unscrupulous Babus. In such a grim scenario, the common man can only pin hopes with the judicial system that has proved instrumental in enforcing discipline in governance.
