Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, July 3: Shashtra Seema Bal (SSB) last night arrested five Kashmiri militants, their four Pakistani wives and two children at Sonouli area of Maharajaganj in Uttar Pradesh, bordering Nepal.
Reports received here said the militants along with their families had reached Kathmandu from Karachi on Pakistani passports and visas and then entered Indian territory from Sonouli area along Nepal border at 8.40 pm last night.
Five militants have been identified as Afzal Mir, 55, Qazi Barkat, 55, Mohammad Sarwar Khan, 42, Tariq Ahmad Bhat, 30 and Qazi Rehmat Barkat, 23, all Kashmiris. Identity of their wives and children couldn’t be ascertained immediately. While first three had crossed over to Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) in 1989, two others had went for arms training across the Line of Control (LoC) in 2005.
The SSB and a Jammu and Kashmir Police team comprising two Inspectors and seven constables, which had already reached Sonouli border, recovered Pakistani passports and some currency from the possession of accused.
The SSB and JKP subjected all of them to questioning after which they were taken to New Delhi where Special Cell of Delhi Police would quiz them.
Nearly 300 persons have returned from Nepal border in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar including militants from Jammu and Kashmir, their Pakistani wives and children after the announcement of Rehabilitation Policy by the State Government.
Sources said the arrested militants have also claimed that they were returning to Kashmir under the Rehabilitation Policy. They added that the militants would be quizzed after they were handed over to Kashmir Police.
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