All the three senior officers of the Kashmir Police said the morale of the force was high.
Hours after three policemen were killed by terrorists, the Jammu and Kashmir police leadership today said the morale of its personnel remains high in spite of the barbaric attempts to intimidate them.
"I have just returned from South Kashmir. We paid our tributes to the martyrs, and the morale of our boys is very high. They are standing on the roads, doing their duty," Kashmir Inspector General of Police (IGP) SP Pani told NDTV in an exclusive interview.
Terrorists had abducted the three special police officers (SPOs) from their homes in South Kashmir's Shopian early this morning. Their bodies were found in an orchard near their village a few hours later. The incident reportedly caused panic in the force, and videos that showed a few such personnel declaring their decision to resign cropped up on the social media.
While Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police (DGP) Dilbag Singh did not flatly deny instances of SPOs resigning, he termed the videos as a "rumour-mongering" tool meant to demoralise the police. "But if any such thing did take place, it will be looked into," he said.
Mr Pani also asked the public to desist from going by the videos being circulated on the Internet. "The social media is not the index for showing what's happening on the ground. Our boys are completely motivated," he asserted.
The IGP told NDTV that the police had been on the receiving end of such acts in the past too, but they always managed to come out with "flying colours".
Mr Singh said the 30,000 SPOs in the state have been doing a "wonderful job", and would be suitably rewarded by the administration. "We stand by the families of the martyred SPOs in their hour of grief... We have always cared about the welfare of SPOs, and in recognition of the duties performed by them, the government is seriously thinking of giving them a major incentive. This is likely to unfold very soon," he added.
"Today is Moharram, but you can still see the police doing their rounds in every district of the state. They will continue to perform their duties with the same dedication in the times to come," the DGP said.
Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Munir Khan reiterated that the state police would emerge stronger from the tragedy. "The Jammu and Kashmir Police has gone through these ups and downs earlier too. These setbacks are part of our job, and we will overcome them all," he said.