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| BJP awakes to pay homage to 'Altaf laptop' | | Asks CM to raise a memorial in his honour | |
Early Times Report
SRINAGAR, Oct 14: After remaining silent for nearly ten days and skipping the funeral of a police officer Altaf Ahmed alias Altaf laptop who was killed while chasing militants near north Kashmir's Bandipora town earlier this month, the ruling Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) woke from deep slumber on Tuesday appealing the Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed to set up a memorial in Altaf's honour.
The BJP's Kashmir spokesman Khalid Jehangir issued a statement stating: "Altaf's death has created a void in Police department and it can never be filled. His contribution towards fighting militancy has been immense. The government should recognize his contribution, besides taking care of his family a memorial should be set up in his honour."
Sources said the BJP finally woke up to the issue following series of stories by the Early Times, which exposed that it was the only party that didn't attend Altaf's funeral on October 7.
Though on the fateful day, Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed and his predecessor Omar Abdullah had rushed to the Police Control Room Srinagar to lay wreath on Altaf's body covered in tricolor, no one from the BJP particularly Deputy Chief Minister Dr Nirmal Singh bothered to attend the funeral.
As Early Times highlighted the issue in the series of stories, particularly the one hinting at strained relations between the party ministers and police, sources said the BJP leadership in New Delhi and the Union Home Ministry took serious note of the matter.
"The entire state chapter of BJP was pulled up by the party high command and asked to explain its position for having been negligent towards the martyrdom of a hero who lost his life for the country," said a BJP insider.
Sources said the embarrassed leadership initially wanted to call a press conference to clear the air over the issue and to pay homage to the departed soul. "But fearing embarrassment at the hands of media, who would pose questions over the delay, it was decided that handout out be issued to pay the homage," said the insiders.
Here too there was confusion. "Some BJP ministers decided to release official handout through Information department. But this was feared to trigger backlash from the media over delay," the insiders said.
Finally it was unanimously decided that the BJP spokesman Khalid Jehangir should issue a "smart statement" on behalf of the party.
Khalid, as per sources, said it would be inappropriate to pay mere homage, a week after the incident. "So BJP issued a statement demanding setting up o f a memorial in Altaf's memory," the sources said.
Subsequently, the BJP last evening issued an official statement asking Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed "to set up a memorial in honour of Police officer Altaf Ahmed who died while chasing the militants near Bandipora in north Kashmir last week."
In the statement, the BJP spokesman Khalid Jehangir said: "Altaf's death has caused a void in Police department and it can never be filled. His contribution towards fighting militancy has been immense. The government should recognize his contribution besides taking care of his family a memorial should be set up in his honour."
The BJP spokesman said, "A culture needs to be developed to honour our martyrs and to recognize their contribution. Police martyrs have shown the way and their sacrifices need to be respected."
Pertinently Early Times had highlighted that the police officials including retired ones took serious note of the absence of the BJP representation at the funeral of Altaf Dar.
The party doesn't enjoy cordial relations with the police force. Just last week Health Minister Lal Singh accused police of being responsible for the drug menace in the state while prior to that his colleague PHE Minister Sukhnandan Kumar had repeated confrontations with police and he had demanded that SHO Magam should be suspended.
"BJP coming out with a statement demanding memorial in favour of Altaf is just a political gimmick aimed at putting the records straight," said an analyst.
He said BJP leaders skipped Altaf's funeral to drive home a point that they are not happy with the police department. "Many BJP leaders have openly criticized the police department and they believe that Police top brass is more inclined towards the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and doesn't take the BJP leaders that seriously," the analyst added.
He said that if BJP leaders are honest they should apologize for skipping Altaf's funeral rather than playing politics over a death of a brave police officer. "It's unfortunate that BJP ministers and leaders have failed to maintain their decorum and stature as public representatives," the analyst added. Soon after BJP came into power the BJP ministers made an issue about them being provided with the Ambassador vehicles instead of bullet proof SUV cars. The BJP ministers openly blamed Police for the goof up and a few of them even gave up their security.
Sources said that Police top brass too has taken a serious note of indifferent behaviour of BJP leaders towards police and they (BJP leaders) looking for a chance to target the police department. "As the Home department is directly under Chief Minister's control BJP leaders and ministers have no say. Their pleas to get a few police officials posted as per their choice too have fallen flat on deaf ears as they (BJP ministers) have been asked to pay attention towards their ministries," the sources added. |
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