Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Apr 6: In a major success ahead of Parliament elections, Shastra Seema Bal (SSB) has arrested four Kashmiri militants, hailing from Batmaloo and Srinagar soon after they crossed over into the Indian territory from village Nautnawa in Gorakhpur district of Uttar Pradesh from Nepal. The militants had taken a flight from port city of Karachi in Pakistan to Nepal’s capital city of Kathmandu to enter India.
Official sources told the Excelsior that four militants were also accompanied by three Pakistani wives and three children when they crossed into India. One of the militants was also joined by his brother-in-law and mother-in-law, they said.
Sources disclosed identity of four arrested militants as Showkat Munshi Mir, Mehraz-ud-Din, Sajjad Ahmed and Farooq Ahmed, all residents of Srinagar and Batmaloo. While two militants brought with them their wives and children, one of the militants, apart from his wife, also brought his mother-in-law and brother-in-law from Pakistan.
Though the militants from Jammu and Kashmir, who had gone to Pakistan and PoK for arms training were returning alone or with wives and children after the announcement of Rehabilitation Policy by the Jammu and Kashmir Government, this is for the first time that a militant had also brought with him his Pakistani brother-in-law and mother-in-law with him.
The SSB detained all of them at Nautnawa border in Gorakhpur district of Uttar Pradesh as soon as they entered into the Indian side. They were questioned at Kulsavera Safe House in Gorakhpur. Later, the SSB handed over all of them to CID Cell of Jammu and Kashmir Police. The CID Cell of JKP has shifted all the arrested militants and their family members to New Delhi for questioning.
Sources said Showkat Munshi Mir and Mehraz-ud-Din had crossed over to Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) in 2002 while Sajjad Ahmed and Farooq Ahmed has gone to PoK in 1994 and 2002 respectively. They had undergone arms training in Pakistan and PoK but were lying low for the past quite some time. They had settled in the local business and married PoK girls.
The militants and their family members would be quizzed by the CID in Srinagar before being charged under relevant sections of law.
Prior to the infiltration of a militant’s mother-in-law and brother-in-law, five Pakistani women had also infiltrated into India and reached Kashmir without their militant husbands. While husbands of three militants had died in PoK, two others had infiltrated illegally and had been arrested in Kashmir.
Over 300 militants along with their family members had already reached the Kashmir Valley after the State Government had announced Rehabilitation Policy for the militants held up in Pakistan and PoK, where they had gone for arms training, in November 2010. The Union Ministry for Home Affairs had given nod to the Rehabilitation Policy.
However, the Rehabilitation Policy had fixed four routes for return of the militants including Chakan-Da-Bagh in Poonch district, Chakothi-Uri in Kashmir, Attari border in Wagah sector of Punjab’s Amritsar district and Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi.
Instead, the militants were taking Nepal rout to enter into India along with their family members.
Sources said the Government has already registered cases against all those who returned home as they had skipped using designated routes.
Worthwhile to mention here that the Government had received 1171 applications of the willing youth to return home. “Out of these 422 cases have been recommended by the different intelligence agencies for return of the militants,” sources said.
The policy is for the youth who gave up the ‘idea of picking up arms due to change of heart and are willing to return’ is applicable to those who went to PoK between January 1, 1989 and December 31, 2009. The policy, however, is not a “general amnesty”. Sources said the Government didn’t have exact details about the number of ultras held up in Pakistan and PoK but roughly there number was around 4000.
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