New Delhi: Retired IPS officer Farooq Khan and former bureaucrat KK Sharma have been appointed as the advisors to the Lieutenant Governor Girish Chandra Murmu of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
According to an order of the Union Home Ministry, the appointments of Farooq Khan and KK Sharma will be effective from the day of their joining in their respective posts.
Both Khan, a retired IPS officer, and Sharma, a retired IAS officer, were advisors to former governor of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, Satya Pal Malik.
Khan, 65, started his career in the Jammu and Kashmir Police as a sub-inspector in 1984 and went on to become inspector general of police. He is seen as being instrumental in breaking the backbone of militancy in the 1990s. He is expected to focus on security and strategic affairs in keeping with the work he has done in the state in the past.
Khan enjoys the confidence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah and is likely to make changes in strategies to curb militancy in the state.
Khan had also served as the administrator in the union territory of Lakshadweep.
Khan, who hails from Poonch district, was deputy inspector general of the 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, he joined the BJP in 2014.
The other advisor, Sharma, a 1983-batch IAS officer of the Arunachal Pradesh, Goa and Mizoram Union Territories (AGMUT) cadre, belongs to Billawar town of Kathua.
During his service career spanning around 30 years, Sharma, 61, has held various positions, including the Chief Secretary of Delhi and Goa. He also served as Secretary in the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) before his retirement. He is known to have played a key role in implementing flagship projects in Delhi in the areas of education and health.
Agencies