The all-powerful Jammu and Kashmir CID has found itself in the crosshairs of chief minister Omar Abdullah, who has warned against its “weaponisation to target families and relatives of offenders”.
Under Jammu and Kashmir’s hybrid governance model, the administration of lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha enjoys complete control over the police, including the CID, the counter-insurgency intelligence wing.
The agency gained prominence when it allegedly crushed dissent after the 2019 scrapping of Article 370. Yet, Kashmir politicians have rarely criticised the CID in public because of the fear of retribution.
Several MLAs, however, targeted the police verification process, which is mandatory for getting government jobs or passports, during the Union Territory’s maiden budget session in Jammu.
Omar told the House: “When on the basis of CID verification we withhold jobs to people, we are, in a way, weaponising the CID. The CID is not to be used as a weapon.”
He said Jammu and Kashmir High Court had given clear directions in February not to hold anyone responsible for a crime committed by a relative.
“I am committing the crime and my son will be punished. It is not a law anywhere. The high court has made it clear that we cannot punish B for the crimes of A. The high court order is with the CID,” Omar said.
The CID has traditionally been tasked with undertaking background checks and verifications for government
appointments and passports. But under the LG’s administration, its powers increased and the employees were bound to seek its clearance for overseas travel.
In 2023, PDP leader Iltija Mufti had accused the CID of persecuting Kashmiris like the Gestapo of Nazi Germany. Photojournalist Sanna Irshad Mattoo was in 2022 denied at Delhi airport when she was boarding a flight to the US to accept the Pulitzer Prize.
Omar on Friday promised to revive the Kashmir Press Club, which in 2022 became a victim of the CID’s adverse report.