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Farooq Khan assumes charge as Advisor to Guv, meets Malik

KT NEWS SERVICE. Dated: 7/17/2019 11:31:22 AM

SRINAGAR, Jul 16: Farooq Khan, a retired IPS officer of Jammu and Kashmir cadre Tuesday assumed the charge as fifth Advisor to Governor Satya Pal Malik.
Earlier Khan met Malik at the Raj Bhavan here today. “Governor and Khan discussed wide ranging issues relating to the developmental scenario and security situation in the state. Governor congratulated Khan for his new appointment and wished him a successful tenure ahead,” said a government spokesperson.
Before his appointment as Advisor to Governor, Farooq Khan served as 32nd administrator of Lakshadweep. He also has had a distinguished career in Police department and held many prestigious postings in the department.
Khan, who started his career in Jammu and Kashmir as a Sub-Inspector in 1984, went on to become Inspector General of Police. Khan as the Governor's fifth advisor, is expected to focus on security and strategic affairs in keeping with the work he has done in the state in the past.
“I am honoured and thankful that the Prime Minister and Home Minister gave me this task and I am sure that I will be able to perform to the best of my abilities,” the retired IPS officer, who is seen as being instrumental in breaking the backbone of militancy in the 1990s, told reporters.
The other Advisors to the governor are K Vijay Kumar, K Skandan, Khursheed Ahmed Ganai and K K Sharma. Khan, 65, enjoys the confidence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah and will be making changes in strategies to curb militancy in the state.
He resigned recently as administrator in the union territory of Lakshadweep.
Recruited in Jammu and Kashmir Police in 1984, Khan was allotted the IPS in 1994. He came into the limelight when he volunteered to head a Special Task Force (STF) of the police in 1994 at a time when morale of the force was low and operations were being carried out by the army and the BSF.
Belonging to Poonch in Jammu, Khan was Deputy Inspector General of Jammu region and led crack teams to end a siege laid by militants at the famous Raghunath temple in 2003.
After his retirement in 2013 as an IGP and head of the Sher-e-Kashmir Police Academy in Udhampur, Khan joined the BJP in 2014.
He was probably the only leader who was made national secretary of the BJP and also made in-charge of Northeast.
A recipient of President's police medal for meritorious service and many commendations by the army and other security agencies, Khan's entry into the BJP was seen as a move to woo Muslim voters in Poonch and Rajouri area. His grandfather Colonel (retired) Peer Mohammad Khan, who was in the army of Maharaja Hari Singh, was the first state president of the Jammu and Kashmir Jana Sangh.