While Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah has been pressing for the early removal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA ), the draft J&K Police Bill (2013) prepared by his government plans to give more sweeping powers to the police force than have been given to the Army.
For one, the new police law will make the civil administration subservient to the police force.
The bill states that, “in any area for which the police commissioner is appointed and is empowered to exercise any power or perform any duty…, the district magistrate shall not exercise the same power or perform the same function or duty notwithstanding the fact that such area forms part of a district within the territorial jurisdiction of the district magistrate.”
The other equally alarming aspect of this act is that it allows for the creation of special security zones to be headed by officers of the rank of IG of Police. It states, “the entire geographical area of the state can be divided into one or more police zones and each zone, comprising two or more police ranges, shall he headed by an officer of the rank of IG police.”
The draft bill was made public on February 15 2013 and suggestions on it were sought within a two week period. But the hanging of Afzal Guru a few days prior to this has seen the state under extended periods of curfew.
Political parties have asked for more time for human rights activists to provide their comments on the bill. Activists warn that while AFSPA is a temporary law, the new police act if passed by the legislature will become part and parcel of their daily life.
The Centre for Policy Analysis has castigated the state government for what they have described as an attempt to legalise the repressive powers and structure of the state police force.’
Dr Sameer Kaul, spokesperson for the People’s Democratic Party, asserted, “Omar Abdullah raises the AFSPA bogey whenever he wants to deflect criticism against his own mal-administration. And yet he has not hesitated to bring in a law which gives unbridled powers to the state machinery.”
Defending the government machinery, minister for rural development and panchayati raj Ali Muhammad Sagar said, “It is just a draft. It has still to be cleared by Cabinet and the state assembly.”