While Jammu and Kashmir waits for its long overdue election, people need to be assured that those who rule in their name have no unchecked powers. Those behind the Kiran Patel breach need to be held accountable.
By: Editorial
April 10, 2023 06:40 IST
After his son’s involvement came to light, Pandya, who had worked in the Gujarat CMO since 2001, had to step down.
As more details have emerged of the Kiran Patel saga, reported in this newspaper, two things about it are truly astonishing. One, that the conman who pretended to be an official in a PMO with a designation that does not exist, was able to pull off his hoax in Jammu & Kashmir, one of the most securitised places in the world, where cross-border terrorism combined with local militancy remains a potent threat; and two, no one has been penalised yet for this outrageous breach of security. Patel, who was finally arrested in March, visited the union territory four times from October 2022, once with his family, on two other occasions accompanied by the businessman son of Hitesh Pandya, a senior official in the Gujarat chief minister’s office, with another businessman once, and on one visit a doctor who wanted to organise a conference in Pulwama. He was given a bullet-proof vehicle, two escort vehicles and a dozen security personnel from the Seema Sashastra Bal. Patel held meetings with officials, projecting power with nothing more than a visiting card and a false designation, stayed in five-star accommodation courtesy of the administration, was even allowed to visit the Line of Control at Uri. Recall that 15 years ago, a man named David Headley pulled a hoax in Mumbai, charming his way through the city’s social circuit as he recced the city for the 26/11 attacks. What if Patel had been a man with more deadly intent? The episode has demonstrated a complete failure of institutional mechanisms that are supposed to be in place just to prevent such eventualities. But it seems that in the general climate of unaccountability that prevails in J&K’s bureaucrat raj since 2018, officials have been playing merry with the rules, no questions asked.
After his son’s involvement came to light, Pandya, who had worked in the Gujarat CMO since 2001, had to step down. But while an enquiry has got underway, the J&K administration is yet to act against the officials who enabled the elaborate fraud. Patel is one among many political power brokers who have mushroomed since 2019 and believe the Valley is now their playground. They push their way around dropping names, all the while milking “naya” Kashmir for their own benefit. The administration has closed its eyes to these unsavoury developments even as it works to ensure there is no word of criticism.
As a state of strategic national importance, J&K cannot be treated as a remote outpost of the ruling party where anything goes. Where guards can be lowered depending on who pulls the strings. While the state waits for its long overdue election, people need to be assured that those who rule in their name have no unchecked powers. Those behind the Patel breach need to be held accountable as per due process, whatever their rank.
© The Indian Express (P) Ltd
