How J&K revamped intelligence operations to check 'rising militancy'
On March 3, in a major police reshuffle in Jammu and Kashmir, additional director general Shiv Murari Sahai aka SM Sahai was made the head of state CID. Though the development didn’t make big news, it was a paradigm shift in the state government’s policy towards its sole intelligence agency.
Till now, inspector general of police used to head the CID. But the state administrative council headed by governor NN Vohra changed the convention – posting Sahai as the new chief of this strategically-important wing.
Sahai’s elevation as the spymaster comes at a time when militancy has been on deadly revival, while "intelligence grid" plays major role in tracking down militants. But security agencies hold divided opinions over the intelligence inputs.
While general officer commanding (GoC) of Army’s Victor Force, major general Arvind Dutta last month said there were "no intelligence inputs" of the Fidayeen at EDI Complex, Pampore where five security personnel, including two para-commando captains, recently lost their lives, police says it’s blessed with informers.
In his recent interview to Srinagar-based Greater Kashmir, IGP Kashmir SJM Geelani credited its "strong informer base" and "robust intelligence grid" for "successful killing of militants in joint operations".
Amid these contradictions on intelligence, Sahai takes centrestage. Often appreciated for "smart policing" skills, he is known for making human intelligence take precedence over guns and grenades.
As a popular anecdote goes, in 2008, when a Hizbul Mujahideen spokesman was "caught", Sahai, the then IGP Kashmir, downplayed the news; he remained conspicuous for not calling a press conference to announce the big catch. His mindgame of silence worked. Rumours flew thick and fast that a most-wanted militant had surrendered. Amid this confusion, Hizbul witnessed reported suspicion within its cadres, and downfall. But Sahai was transferred, this time to New Delhi.
A 1987 batch IPS in J&K Cadre, Sahai has never been seen as a "yes minister". But interestingly, from the Muftis to Abdullahs, successive regimes desperately banked on him for their survival. After his successful stint during the then PDP-Congress coalition when Hizbul was marginally neutralised, his need was again felt in 2010, when Kashmir witnessed a massive uprising on the streets.
As civilian protests spread uncontrollably across the Valley, the then chief minister Omar Abdullah found no options but to bring back Sahai as IGP Kashmir.
Omar’s gamble worked. The street protests, which claimed over 120 lives and found parliamentarians from New Delhi knocking the door of hardliner separatist Syed Ali Geelani, finally subsided.
For the Omar government, Sahai almost remained the saviour cop with a magic wand. His clout was such, that in 2011, during a function on traffic week celebrations in Srinagar, Ali Muhammad Sagar, a minister then, didn’t feel awkward to personally serve him dry fruits on the dais the duo shared before the audience.
In 2012, Sahai was among the first to discover the radicalisation of youth, a trend which subsequently transpired into revival of militancy at the hands of educated youth, including meritorious schoolboys.
In an interview to Business Standard, Sahai had candidly attributed radicalisation to the civilian killings during street protests, and economic blockades, which Kashmir witnessed in 2008 and 2010. A few weeks later, however, Sahai was transferred again. Though subsequently promoted as ADG, he never got a prize posting. It was a general perception among officials that "some forces within the successive regimes were instrumental in keeping him away."
But Sahai is back on a major assignment. And, he has an edge over his colleagues for his direct interaction with the Kashmiri youth, particularly through social media, where young militant commanders like Burhan Muzaffar Wani of Tral happen to be Hizbul’s poster boys online. Though being away from the spotlight for four years, Sahai has gained over 11,000 interactive followers on his Facebook page.
An unusual policeman, popular with his sub-ordinates, Sahai is equally known to be observing a fast in the holy month of Ramazan, something, which makes him more attractive in Muslim-dominated Kashmir.
Keeping an eye on the assigned landscape won’t be that difficult for the man, who started his career heading a thana in Srinagar when militancy was budding. That time he was a gun-wielding cop desperately looking for militants, particularly the iconic HAJY group, whose pictures, police then longed for.
But then, times have changed. So has militancy and intelligence. As of now, guns aside, Sahai is all eyes and ears!