Srinagar: In a late night development on Thursday, Jammu and Kashmir police chief S.P. Vaid was unceremoniously removed from the position, a week after 11 relatives of state policemen were kidnapped by militants, creating panic within security establishment.Though the militants had set free all the 11 within hours of their abduction on August 31, the incident left the top brass of the J&K police embarrassed and gave rise to speculation about a reshuffle within police ranks and the removal of Vaid.An order issued by the state home department finally confirmed Vaid’s transfer in the “interest of administration”. “Dr SP Vaid, DGP, J&K is transferred and his services are placed at disposal of general administration department (GAD) for further positing as transport commissioner,” said the order issued by home secretary R.K. Goyal.DGP prisons Dilbagh Singh, an IPS officer of the 1987-batch, has been assigned charge of J&K DGP’s duties, in addition to his own, till a regular arrangement is made, the order added. Minutes later, commissioner GAD Hilal Ahmad Parray issued a separate order, posting Vaid as transport commissioner, J&K.Former chief minister Omar Abdullah questioned the decision to remove Vaid in a “hurry” and without finding a permanent replacement for him. “Changing the DG is prerogative of administration but why a DG as temporary arrangement? The current DG won’t know if he is going to stay & others who would like his job will be trying to replace him. None of this is good for @JmuKmrPolice,” Omar tweeted.In another tweet, he said there was no hurry to replace Vaid.There was no hurry to replace @spvaid. He should have been changed only when a permanent arrangement had been worked out. @JmuKmrPolice has enough problems without having to deal with confusion of leadership.— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) September 6, 2018The decision to remove Vaid was taken at a time when the state, which is presently under governor’s rule, is set to witness municipal and panchayat polls.A 1986 batch IPS officer, Vaid was posted as J&K police chief in December 2016. He has served as special DGP (coordination, law and order) and as DGP prisons in his over-three-decade career in the police. His transfer had, however, become imminent after J&K intelligence chief A.G. Mir was removed from the position on September 4. He was replaced by B. Srinivasan who held the post earlier as well.The rebels had abducted relatives of policemen from different villages across four districts of south Kashmir – Anantnag, Kulgam, Shopian and Pulwama – in an apparent retaliation for the detention of their family members and alleged ransacking of their houses.Also read: ‘Revenge Abductions’ of Police Kin in Kashmir Show the Risk of Playing With FireA day before the abductions, police had detained Asadullah Naikoo, father of most wanted militant and operational chief of Hizbul Mujahideen Riyaz Naikoo, during a raid at his house in Beighpora village of Pulwama, for questioning. The policemen’s relatives were set free by militants a few hours after the police silently released Naikoo senior from custody.A source said the Union home ministry and state government had taken strong note of the abductions which were seen as the “collapse of law and order machinery”. “That there was no clue about the kidnappings till all persons were set free by militants was shocking,” said the source.A senior official, however, said the Centre was “unhappy” with Vaid over his tackling of the militancy and law and order situation in the Valley for “quite some time”. In June this year, Vaid was divested of charge of law and order and it was assigned to ADGP security Muneer Khan, a move which had not gone down well with the former DGP, who had lodged a protest with state government. “He (Vaid) was informed in advance about his replacement,” said the official.The Valley has witnessed an increase in militant attacks on security forces this year. As per the J&K police’s own data, 25 policemen have been killed during the first eight months of this year, some of them after abduction. In comparison, 48 policemen were killed by militants during the last two years – 17 policemen and five special police officers in 2016 and 26 policemen the next year, the government had informed the assembly in January this year.Mudasir Ahmad is a Srinagar-based reporter.