Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, July 26: Army has taken a firm decision of not allowing any militant—whether alone or along with family including wife and children—from across the Line of Control (LoC) through any unauthorized route on the ground that their return without following the proper procedure could pose a “grave security threat’’.
Official sources told the Excelsior that Army has issued clear cut directions to the field commanders posted along the LoC not to allow any militant along with family members to enter into Indian side from any unauthorized route.
“The militants, whether alone or accompanied by the Pakistani wives or children, should be pushed back’’, the Army directive said.
Sources said the Army wouldn’t allow any militant, even if his family had applied here for his return from Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) under Rehabilitation Policy, to enter from any unauthorized route from the LoC.
“The Government has fixed four routes for return of the militants of Jammu and Kashmir from Pakistan or Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) under the Rehabilitation Policy. The militants can return from these routes but surely they won’t be allowed to come from any unauthorized route’’, they added.
Under the State Government’s Rehabilitation Policy, which has the approval of the Union Home Ministry, the militants from Jammu and Kashmir, who had gone to PoK or Pakistan for arms training but were held up there, can return without arms from four authorized routes including Poonch-Rawlakote in Jammu region, Uri-Muzaffarabad in Kashmir, Wagah border in Amritsar district of Punjab and Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport.
However, out of over 100 militants, who have returned to J&K from Pakistan or PoK after the Rehabilitation Policy, none had taken authorized routes. Majority of them had flown out from Pakistan to Kathmandu in Nepal and then entered into Uttar Pradesh on way to Jammu and Kashmir.
During past one month, five militants along with their families had tried to cross into this side from LoC in border district of Poonch. However, they were not allowed to cross LoC and were pushed back by the Army.
In first case, two militants had attempted to intrude from near Chakan-Da-Bagh in Poonch district while in the second incident just a couple of days back, three militants with their wives and children tried to sneak-in from Balakote sector of Mendhar tehsil in Poonch district. They were also pushed back.
Sometime back, the Ministry of Home Affairs had referred the Rehabilitation Policy to External Affairs Ministry on the ground that Pakistan Army and their other Intelligence agencies were creating hurdles in its implementation by not allowing the militants to return from four authorized routes.
The External Affairs Ministry could take up the issue with Pakistan when External Affairs Minister SM Krishna would visit Islamabad in September this year for talks with his counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar.
Sources said the security agencies have voiced concern over regular return of the militants to Jammu and Kashmir through Nepal-Uttar Pradesh border on the ground that there was no proper mechanism in place to keep surveillance on the returnees for a long time.
“Definitely, it’s a matter of concern. A strong mechanism was required to be devised by all security and Intelligence agencies for keeping a strict vigil on the militants, who have returned from PoK after over a decade or two as some of them might have been lured by Pakistani agencies to work for them.
According to official data of police, there could be around 1300 to 1500 militants of Jammu and Kashmir, who were held up in PoK after arms training. Most of them had crossed over more than a decade ago. A large number of them have now married the Pakistani or PoK women and were engaged in manual work to earn their livelihood.
Reports said that after the announcement of Rehabilitation Policy by the State Government, a number of militants wanted to return to avail benefits of the Policy.
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