We don't need certificate of nationalism: J&K police

Srinagar: Under fire over the lathicharge against outstation students of the NIT here, two senior officers of the Jammu and Kashmir Police have hit back, saying they don’t need "certificate" of nationalism or impartiality from anyone.
The police officers--Mubassir Latifi, a Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) posted with the elite crime branch and Firoz Yehya, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) at Baramulla Headquarters -- took to social media on Thursday to vent their anguish over the criticism against the state police for the action against the students in the wake of the unrest at the National Institute of Technology (NIT).
"J&K Police doesn’t need any certificate of nationalism or impartiality from those whose valour doesn’t extend beyond their keypads," Latifi posted on his 'Facebook' account.
" J&K Police is a saga of sacrifice and courage and has brought this state out of a madness called terrorism," Latifi, a Masters in Law, said.
"Jammu and Kashmir Police doesn't discriminate on the basis of who's local and who's non-local. Neither do we enjoy beating up people. Force is used only for maintenance of law and order and to disperse unlawful assembly of people," he added.
He said anyone resorting to violence was committing a crime. "Someone resorting to violence is committing a crime and police knows how to take on crime," he wrote.
Yehya said that many of his colleagues have been asking and many more must be thinking "whose war are we fighting?"
"Many of my colleagues have been asking and many more must be thinking 'whose war are we fighting?' All I can tell them is that, this is just another phase and will pass.
Further, JK Police doesn't need any certificate..."
"We must continue doing the good work within the ambit of law and nothing shall deter us....Good common people who we serve may be alienated with us for reasons more than one and our good work shall certainly help us win their hearts," Yehya, a Masters in Economics, said.
Yehya reminded the critics that the state police has taken tough action against its own officers wherever they have been found guilty of overstepping their jurisdiction.
"Those who are seen to be doing anything other than what law permits them to do will be taken to task...please remember JKP must be one of the few Police forces which has the courage to take action against proven offences by officers of high rank and officials of its own force," Yehya said.
"Police action is not doubted when a student from any other institute is booked for breaking law, but there's controversy while we are dealing with students of a particular institute!" wrote Yehya.
The police resorted to lathicharge of the outstation students on April 5 when they were making attempts to come out on the road from the campus, located on the banks of Dal lake.
The students tried to push their way out of campus and march on the streets of Hazratbal in a bid to return to their home. They allegedly pushed a senior police officer following which the police swung into action and chased them back to their rooms.
On Thursday, police released several video clippings which showed the outstation students, carrying the national flag, indulging in vandalism.
Yehya said the complete video coverage of the incident at NIT would have "achieved zero debate and low TRP" for some news channels. "It's all economics, u see," he said.
In an apparent message to TV channels during the discussion on the social networking site, he said "intelligence lies in checking out the whole set of facts rather than seeing partially true scenes on videos meant to evoke sentiments of common and less intelligent people.
"Some lampoons celebrated the defeat of Indian cricket team, other lampoons reacted and vandalised the institution.
The authorities of the institution didn't step in and one thing led to another," he said.
Police has registered two FIRs against unknown persons relating to incidents of violence on NIT campus on April 1 and April 5.
The clashes broke out between local and outstation students last week following India's defeat by West Indies in the World T20 Cup.
Police has maintained that on April 5, the NIT students tried to take out a march outside the campus but were stopped.
"The police deployment stopped them from doing so and old them to move back. The mob resorted to violence and assaulted the policemen, including officers, and started stone pelting," a police official said.
He said in retaliatory action to chase away the violent mob, some students got injured who were provided first aid.
Meanwhile, fresh protests rocked the NIT on Friday as the outstation students took out a march on the campus to press for their demands which includes shifting the institute out of Kashmir.
A group of students tried to march towards the main gate but were stopped by the security force personnel on duty inside the campus, officials said.
They said the students wanted to interact with the media personnel camping outside the main gate of the institute at Hazratbal.
The students shouted slogans in favour of their demands but later went back inside the campus, the officials said.