SRINAGAR, 10 November 2002 — Even as its future is being hotly debated, the anti-terrorist Special Operations Group (SOG) of the Jammu and Kashmir police has ceased its activities in the state.

“They (SOG) are not carrying out any anti-terrorist operations. They are waiting for orders from the new government,” a police officer said.

The SOG had been widely accused of rights violations. Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed had vowed during his People’s Democratic Party’s (PDP’s) campaign for the September-October assembly polls that the group would be wound up if the party was elected to power.

“We would rather quit office than compromise on our commitment to disarm and hold accountable those of the SOG who have wreaked havoc in the past,” maintained Ghulam Hassan Mir, a Cabinet minister.

The SOG is likely to be merged with the state police and this would ensure greater transparency in their operations, the police officer said.

“What will happen after the SOG is merged with the state police? They would carry out anti-terrorism operations as policemen, which is their normal duty. There would be greater transparency associated with such operations than in the past,” he said.

Meanwhile, soldiers have stopped frisking people in Kashmir during the holy month of Ramadan, an army official said yesterday.

Earlier this week authorities relaxed a night curfew for the first time in a decade. “We have stopped checking and frisking on the roads. There will be no frisking, there will be no checking during the month of Ramadan,” Lt.-Gen. V. G. Patankar told reporters in Srinagar.

Sayeed has promised “a major facelift and a truly people friendly role” for the police. Ever since he assumed office, the daily statements issued by the police headquarters here detailing militant attacks do not make a separate mention of SOG operations, as was being done in the past.

This apart, the recent release on bail of a number of extremists who had been behind bars for almost a decade indicates that the new government is being proactive on the healing touch.

“Jailed militants used to be bailed out by the courts in the past as well but the police would re-arrest such people immediately after being bailed out. It appears that the new government has issued orders not to re-arrest those who are bailed out,” observed a lawyer.

However, a court yesterday sentenced three members of a pro-India militant group in the state to life in prison for killing a forest official six years ago.

The three members of the Ikhwan militia were convicted of abducting forest official Ghulam Muhammad Shah and torturing him at their camp in January 1996. The victim’s relatives and witnesses testified that the three accused — Abdul Ahad Rather, alias Tiger, Bashir Ahmad Bhat and Zahoor Ahmad — wrapped Shah in polythene and set him on fire.

Shah died of serious burns a day later, sparking massive protests in his township of Awantipora, 30 km south of Srinagar. The trio was arrested several months later and brought before a sessions court in Pulwama, where they confessed to the crime, according to court officials.

In a related development, Defense Minister George Fernandes yesterday shot down reports that India would offer rebels in Kashmir a cease-fire during Ramadan.

“India has no plans of offering a cease-fire to militants in Kashmir in view of Ramadan,” Fernandes told reporters in Assam.