Pulwama attack fallout: Government withdraws security of 18 more separatist Kashmiri leaders

In the wake of the Pulwama attack, the government has withdrawn the security of 18 more separatist leaders in Jammu and Kashmir.

This comes only a few days after the authorities revoked the security of moderate separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. 

A statement released by the J&K government said “it was felt that providing security to these separatist leaders is a wastage of scarce state resources which could be better utilised elsewhere.”

The new list includes names of some of the top separatist leaders from the hardcore fraction. 

Apart from the separatists, the security of 155 political persons and activists, who according to the government did not require the security provided to them based on their threat assessment and activities, was also withdrawn. 

Interestingly, this new list also includes the name of Shah Faesal, who resigned recently from the Indian Administrative Service and joined mainstream politics 

Officials said that by doing this, over 1,000 police personnel and over a 100 vehicles had been freed to do regular police work.

At a recent press conference, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, while referring indirectly to the separatists, had said that the security given to people who get funds from Pakistan and its ISI should be reviewed.