Earlier known as the J&K police, the police force in the Union Territory of Ladakh shall henceforth be called the “Lakdakh Police.” S.S. Khandare, Inspector General of Police, Ladakh, issued an order about the change in terminology on Saturday.
The order read as follows –
“Wherever the organizational name ‘J&K Police’ is written on any signboards, police vehicles, letterheads, office stationaries, seals, and other official items of UT Police, it should be replaced by the word ‘LADAKH POLICE’ in capital letters from here on.”
“The order also stated that no police official or officer should put on the President’s police collar insignia of J&K Police on the uniform”. It adds to the fact that there is the consent of the responsible authority.
It is a significant decision because the police in Ladakh were using their old institutional name of ‘J&K Police’ everywhere. It is in contrast to the recent events of the abrogation of Article 370 and the subsequent reorganization of the then states.
On 31st October 2019, Jammu and Kashmir were officially bifurcated into the two union territories into two Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. It marked the beginning of the two UTs at a bureaucratic level. Earlier on 5th August of the same year, the Parliament passed Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill, which became an Act.