Dr S S Bloeria - The Men Who Served Jammu & Kashmir

THE MEN WHO SERVED J&K

by

Dr. Sudhir S. Bloeria

Foreword by

Shri N. N. Vohra (Governor of Jammu and Kashmir)

The Men Who Served J & K

First Published in India in 2016

Copyright 2016, Sudhir S Bloeria

ISBN: 978-93-85563-27-0 (Hardback)
ISBN: 978-93-85563-28-7 (ebook)

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The views expressed in this book are of the author in his personal capacity.

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Foreword

As is now well known, in the late 1980s Pakistan executed a well planned operation to induct a huge number of trained militants into Kashmir to perpetrate violence, generate chaos and insecurity and seek to destroy the established order for the Valley to fall into its hands.

The wave of terror and violence which engulfed Kashmir from around January 1990 shattered the Valleys peace and normalcy and caused human and economic losses of an unprecedented scale. Several lakh people, including virtually the entire Kashmiri Pandit community, were compelled to flee the State, leaving behind their heritage, homes and all that they possessed. The arising turbulence led to the breakdown of the democratic system and the imposition of a unitary regime which continued for an unprecedentedly long period of nearly seven years, till the State Assembly elections were conducted and an elected government was installed in October 1996.

A great deal has been written about the death and destruction faced by the people of Kashmir in the period after the onset of Pak sponsored militancy in the State. Several books, by authors of varied backgrounds, record the untold sufferings undergone by residents of the Valley and, in the subsequent years also by those living in other areas of the State. There are also notable writings on the severe challenges faced by the administrative apparatus, virtually leading to its breakdown.

The author of this volume, Dr S.S. Bloeria, a former Chief Secretary of J&K, held varied responsible positions during the period in which the State was faced with terrorism and onslaughts on varied other fronts. As a good team leader Dr Bloeria is proud and fond of his flock and has chosen to write about a number of civil and police officers of the J&K cadre who are

... men who served Jammu and Kashmir during the extremely difficult time faced by the State and those who ... displayed stubborn tenacity of purpose ... truly the pioneers, the torch bearers and the trail blazers ....

Regarding the broad basis on which he has structured this book on the tales of valor, sacrifice and commitment of the civil servants and members of the police force of the State, Dr Bloeria observes that he has written on

... young and middle level officers belonging to the State and other parts of the country ... whose ... commitment to the primary cause and performances beyond the normal call of duty are things which should be set down before they are forgotten.

Dr Bloeria has chosen to particularly focus on the work and deeds of

...men who rise to tough callings as part of their perceived duty and professionals for whom a job well done is enough compensation ... it is the tale of some of these men of substance, guts and steely determination, and a pick from the top of the pile that has been attempted in this book ... an offering of honour and gratitude to each of them ... also a tribute, individually and collectively, to all those not mentioned by name and who all the same toiled, sweated and bled to rise to the call of duty and the demand of their conscience.

Deeply hurt by the jibe of an insensitive senior, a former Chief Secretary who made denigrating remarks about his juniors having played no role during the dark days faced by the State, the author hopes that this book

would bring to light and focus on the fact that the Civil Service and Police Force of the State of Jammu and Kashmir did perform their duty well, in very difficult times and under exceedingly trying circumstances....

It would not make sense, even with the advantage of hind sight, to pass judgment on how the tumultuous events of the 1990s could have been better dealt with by the civil and police services and the successive Governors under whose directions they worked. We are still far too close to this traumatic period, which resulted in shattering lakhs of households and the killing of thousands of innocent persons, to determine an objective perspective.

I have no doubt that Dr Bloerias look back on the events during the extremely difficult period in which he and the officers on whom he has written served Jammu and Kashmir would be of immense interest to academics, political analysts and commentators, researchers and historians and the lay reader. I compliment Dr Bloeria for recording his impressions while memories are still fresh.

N.N. Vohra

22nd April, 2016
Raj Bhavan
Jammu

INTRODUCTION

What has been the inspiration behind this book?

I vividly remember the afternoon of October 10, 1996.

That very morning a National Conference government, headed by Dr. Farooq Abdullah had been sworn in by the Governor, General K.V. Krishna Rao (retired). A democratic government was back at the helm of affairs in the state after almost seven years, a period of unprecedented loss of lives, limbs and properties unleashed by the Pakistan inspired and aided militancy. The militancy and violence were by no means over, but the return of the peoples government was indeed a huge step forward in that direction. This was made possible only by conducting elections, first for the Parliament in May and then the Assembly elections four months later. These elections were managed smoothly in the face of determined efforts by the militants and their over ground and underground supporters by the huge collective efforts of the civil administration, police, paramilitary forces, army and the intelligence agencies. I was then posted as the Home Secretary of the state government. All of us who had been part of this splendid effort felt justifiably proud of our achievement and were full of beans. After the swearing in ceremony and celebrations were over, all secretaries were asked to assemble in the meeting hall of the secretariat to be addressed by the new Chief Secretary Ashok Jaitly.

One of his early comments was, ...you people have enjoyed for the last seven years, now we will show you how to work. This caustic and acerbic observation caused a deep wound and hurt badly. The pain was even more pronounced as the source of hurt was none other than one of our own, a person who should have understood the situation more comprehensively than any one else. He, along with R.K. Takkar, was not only the senior most IAS officers of the J&K cadre, but were also the role models for most of us. Their professional competence, integrity and moral standing were of a very high order and we all had always looked up to them for inspiration, guidance and support. Shri Jaitly headed the state administration as the Chief Secretary for the next five and half years till his superannuation in January 2002. As to how much the state was able to achieve during this critical period is not a subject matter of the current narrative, but his unsavoury remarks did hit the soft spot and caused a long lasting pain, a pain whose remnants have not gone away even after fifteen years. That afternoon sitting right there I decided to put on record my own observations and experiences about the hard work put in and the deprivations gone through by you people in the fight of the beleaguered state against the militancy since 1989, restore the semblance of normalcy, revive a moribund and collapsed civil administration and state police, ultimately leading to holding of the two elections in 1996. This urge resulted, over the next seven years, in the publication of two books.