How much is being spent on the security for Kashmiri separatists?

How much money is being spent on the security of the separatists of Kashmiri separatists? The Centre went on to make it clear that the Union Government had nothing to do with the security and it was the state government which was responsible for it.

"As reported by the government of Jammu and Kashmir, it provides security cover (to separatists) based on security categorization as decided by the State Security Review Coordination Committee (SSRCC)," Minister of State for Home Hansraj Gangaram Ahir told the Lok Sabha in a written reply in response to a question of Bharatiya Janata Party's Rajendra Agrawal.

The data available suggested that Rs 10.88 crore was spent on the security of separatist leaders, including moderate Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, and former chairpersons Abdul Gani Bhat, Moulana Abbas Ansari and others.

A sum of Rs 10.36 crore was spent on the salary of the policemen guarding and protecting the Hurriyat and other separatist leaders, while Rs 49.7 lakh has been spent on the fuel for the vehicles used for escorting the separatist leaders.

Rs 19.51 lakh was provided on the salary of the guards/escort of Mirwaiz in 2017-18. Besides, Rs 77.37 lakh was spent on the guard's salary in the current fiscal.

Since 2008-09, Rs 1.27 crore has been spent on the salary of the guards and escort personnel of Mirwaiz. Similarly, Rs 5.06 crore was spent on the guards' salary of Mirwaiz since last 10 years.

Security of former Hurriyat chairman Bhat has cost the state exchequer Rs 2.3 crore in the last 10 years. Similarly, Moulana Abbas's security has cost state Rs 3 crore since 2008-09.

The state government was also providing security to Mirwaiz's media secretary Shahid ul Islam till he was arrested by National Investigation Agency in the funding case. His security has now been withdrawn.

Now the state is providing the security to only 10 separatist leaders, mostly from the moderate faction of the Hurriyat Conference. Hardline Hurriyat leaders do not enjoy any security cover.

OneIndia News