Srinagar: Outside a saw mill, 22-year-old Tariq Ahmed (name changed) is working as a small-time labourer. Dressed in ragtag clothes, the youth is trying hard to come to terms with his new job of a labourer. A few days ago, this Special Police Officer (SPO) was wearing a neatly ironed khaki, bubbling with zeal and dreaming to become a permanent employee. But militant threats crashed his dream. The young man resigned and is now constrained to work as a labourer to feed his family.

Ahmed is one among over a dozen SPOs who resigned in the militancy hit Tral subdivision of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district last month. The resignations were the fallout of the relentless militant attacks on policemen and SPOs. At least 33 policemen, including seven SPOs, have been killed by militants this year — the highest in over a decade.

“There is no alternative to life and that is the simple reason I resigned,” said Ahmed.

At Luraw Jagir, a village on the outskirts of Tral town, four SPOs, including two cousins, have resigned. The village with a population of 1,325 has witnessed an attempt to kill an SPO. The attack triggered a series of resignations. The imam of the local Jamia mosque in the village announced their resignations before the congregational Friday prayers.

But the resignations have not completely allayed their fears. The SPOs and their families continue to be caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. The fear among these former SPOs families is visible. They peep through windows whenever any visitor knocks at the door.

“After resignation, he has shifted his base to Srinagar where he is working at a bakery shop,” said a family member of a former SPO at the village. “He did not even turn up to celebrate Eid among the family members.” The family refused to share details about the former SPO.

A local villager said some of the SPOs were even summoned by the forces after their resignations.

“They have resigned but they are living in constant fear,” a local said.

In the neighbouring Pastoona Sayedabad village, where an SPO survived a bid on his life, tension among the SPOs is palpable.

At Chankatar village in Tral, the SPO who was abducted by militants and subsequently released on the appeal of his mother, has also moved out of town.

“He is living at his relative’s house in north Kashmir,” Qamar-un Nisa, mother of the former SPO, said.

“We have been visiting our homes freely but now, the situation is really bad,” said another SPO from Pulwama district, who despite the threats, has not resigned. “If I resign, what will we eat? We do simple jobs on a paltry salary like many others but I wonder why we have become a target in the war,” he said.

Caught between devil and deep sea

The SPOs and their families continue to be caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. The fear among these former SPOs families is visible. They peep through windows whenever any visitor knocks at the door. “After resignation, he has shifted his base to Srinagar where he is working at a bakery shop,” said a family member of a former SPO at the village. “He did not even turn up to celebrate Eid among the family members.”

‘Why target us?’

We have been visiting our homes freely but now, the situation is really bad. If I resign, what will we eat? We do simple jobs on a paltry salary like many others but I wonder why we have become a target in the war — Special Police Officer. (Tribune)