SRINAGAR: Former Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik criticised the Union government for downgrading his security cover.
In an interview with India Today, Malik said his security cover has been downgraded just because he spoke on the farmers issue and the Centre’s Agniveer scheme.
Satya Pal Malik said that instead of Z+ security cover, a personal security officer (PSO) would now be deployed for his security.
“I would like to say that I am not joining any political party. I am not a political person. But if something happens to me, please come to Delhi,” Malik told India Today.
Maintaining that the security cover of NN Vohra, who served as JK Governor from 2008 to 2018, was still intact, Malik said he has written to the home ministry about the issue but no response has been received so far as to why his security cover was downgraded and what was the reason behind the move.
India Today reported that while the protocol is to provide lifetime security cover to presidents and prime ministers, security cover is provided to governors and lieutenant governors based on intelligence reports from security agencies.
Satya Pal Malik was the Jammu and Kashmir Governor in 2019 when the Article 370 of the Constitution was read down and the state was split into two union territories
Reacting to Malik’s claims, NC Vice president, Omar Abdullah said, “What goes around comes around, jaisa karoge vaisa bharoge. He messed with a lot of peoples’ security, including mine and of my senior colleagues.” Omar wrote on his Twitter.
