A Special Police Officer (SPO), fleeing Friday night with 7 AK-47 rifles and a pistol from the Srinagar residence of PDP MLA Ajaz Ahmad Mir, has put the top brass of police in an embarrassing situation who had earlier this week claimed that there was hardly any response to the ‘resign or perish’ threat of terrorists to the SPOs. This is the biggest theft of service weapons by a single person since the insurgency erupted in Jammu and Kashmir almost three decades back.

The security forces have launched a manhunt for the deserter SPO Adil Bashir Sheikh and a Red Alert has also been sounded across Kashmir after Sheikh, who was deployed as personal security officer of the PDP MLA, fled with the sophisticated assault rifles and a personal revolver of the MLA. Checkpoints have been established on all roads leading to South Kashmir.

The incident has put a question mark on the safety of the elected representatives and other VIPs in Jammu and Kashmir as the Jawahar Nagar Colony where the MLA was living in a government accommodation is a heavily guarded area.

Moreover, the police were investigating the role of other policemen whose weapons have been stolen by Sheikh who is suspected to have been in constant touch with terrorists. The cops were summoned to the police station and thoroughly questioned as their role is also being suspected in the incident. It was a mystery as to how did the deserter SPO manage to carry that many weapons through the virtual police cordon in the area.

Mir, who represents the Wachi constituency of Shopian in South Kashmir, was provided extra security personnel as the area from where he is MLA is infested by Pakistani and local terrorists. The incident comes close on the heels of kidnapping and killing of three policemen in Shopian.

Police came to know about the theft of sophisticated weapons when another security officer of the MLA informed the area police station about the missing rifles and a pistol which is the licensed personal weapon of the MLA.

The SPO involved in the theft of weapons belongs to the Zainpora area of South Kashmir’s Shopian which is the nerve centre of terrorism. He was recruited as SPO in March last year and was assigned serial number 488.

Police have announced a reward of Rs 2 lakh for any information about the fugitive SPO and have also released his photo.

It is worth mentioning that various terrorist outfits had recently threatened the SPOs to quit their jobs. However, a negligible number, about 40 out of the nearly 30,000 SPOs are reported to have responded to the ‘quit or perish’ threat of terrorists.

This is not the first incident of desertion of SPO as several such incidents of SPOs fleeing with service weapons have been reported in the recent past. Many of the deserter SPOs have reportedly joined terrorist ranks.

A former SPO, who had deserted with his service weapon a few months ago, was among the three terrorists killed on Thursday in an encounter with the security forces.

In a bid to counter the threat of terrorists, the Union Home Ministry had earlier this week doubled the remuneration of SPOs to Rs 12,000 from the existing Rs 6000.