Onlykashmir.in News Desk
Aam Aadmi Party legislator Mehraj Malik on Sunday levelled serious allegations against the Deputy Commissioner of Kishtwar, claiming that police personnel accompanying the officer drew their weapons against Indian Army personnel over what amounted to a minor delay of approximately ten minutes in the movement of the official’s convoy.
Malik, who represents his constituency in the Legislative Assembly, made the allegations through a post on X and demanded to know why the officer had not been held accountable for what he characterised as a grave misuse of official authority. The legislator’s post quickly attracted attention given the gravity of the allegation, which, if accurate, would point to a deeply troubling breach of protocol between civil administration and the armed forces.
In his post, Malik wrote that the DC Kishtwar “by using police pointed their weapons at Indian Army personnel simply because his convoy was delayed by 10 minutes.” He further questioned whether the Public Safety Act, a preventive detention law routinely invoked in Jammu and Kashmir in serious cases, would apply in such a situation, and asked why the BJP had remained conspicuously silent over the matter.
The Kishtwar district, located in the Chenab Valley region of Jammu Division, has historically been a sensitive area. The Indian Army maintains a significant operational presence in the region, and any friction between civilian authorities and military personnel carries serious implications for the broader law-and-order framework and the civil-military relationship that is essential to the functioning of governance in such areas.
Malik used the occasion to raise broader concerns about what he described as a culture of impunity and the use of official power as a tool of intimidation rather than public service. He alleged that such incidents, if left unaddressed, erode public confidence in governance and set a dangerous precedent for how state authority is exercised.
The district administration and the BJP, which governs at the Centre and holds significant political interest in the Jammu region, had not issued any response at the time of this report. The Jammu and Kashmir Government, led by the National Conference, has also not officially commented on the matter.
The allegations, if substantiated, would call for swift and unambiguous administrative action. Relations between civilian district administration and the defence forces are governed by a clearly defined protocol, and any departure from this framework demands a transparent inquiry and appropriate accountability.
