Four former chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir and their immediate family members are going to lose their Special Security Group (SSG) protection as the union territory’s administration has decided to wind up the elite unit established in 2000. Former chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir, namely Farooq Abdullah, his son Omar Abdullah, Ghulam Nabi Azad, and Mehbooba Mufti will be affected by this decision. Except for Congress leader Azad, the rest three reside in Srinagar.
The decision was taken by the Security Review Coordination Committee which oversees the threat perception of important leaders in Jammu and Kashmir. On December 31 last year, Rashid Raina, undersecretary to the J&K administration sent a communication to the additional director general of police (ADGP), security, of UT administration that the centre has approved to right-size the SSG.
“And, accordingly, I am directed to convey to reduce the posted strength of SSG to the bare minimum, preferably headed by a DSP, for maintaining continuity. All the resources (including vehicles, access control gadgets, etc) of the SSG, except such resources as may be required by SSF, be transferred to the security wing,” the communication read.
The administration will ‘right-sized’ the SSG by reducing the strength of this elite force to the ‘bare minimum.’ Now it will be headed by an officer below the rank of Superintendent of Police as against Director, who is of the rank of Inspector General of Police and above.
On March 31, 2020, the Centre had issued a gazette notification — Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Adaptation of State Laws) Order, 2020 — to amend the Special Security Group Act of the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir government. The amendment omitted a clause that provided former chief ministers and their families with SSG security.
The SSG will now provide security cover to serving chief ministers and their immediate family members only. But former chief ministers will continue to get some other security.
Farooq Abdullah and Ghulam Nabi Azad will continue to get the security cover of the National Security Guard as both of them are Z-plus protectees. Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba will have Z-plus security cover while in Jammu and Kashmir. But their security may be reduced outside the union territory. In addition to this, these leaders will be provided security by the district police based on the threat assessments.
The union territory administration has decided to post some of the SSG personnel in the security wing of the Jammu and Kashmir Police as part of the ‘close protection team.’ The additional vehicles and gadgets of the SSG will be transferred to the security wing of the Jammu and Kashmir Police.
With the cutting down the size of SSG, the remaining personnel from the elite group will be posted in other wings to make the best use of their knowledge, training and expertise.
The Jammu and Kashmir Special Security Group was created in 2000 by an act of the J&K Assembly during the Farooq Abdullah govt. It was created to provide security to protected persons, vital installations and to secure venues during sensitive events.