Adil Lateef
SRINAGAR, Sept 11: Assuring them of rehabilitation and bright future, security forces today made an appeal to militants operating in Kashmir to lay down their arms and join mainstream, saying they don’t feel happy while killing them during gunfights and instead would be welcomed with open arms.
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The top officers of police, Army and paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) made the appeal today during a joint press conference here at Police Control Room and produced a militant -who surrendered at Shopian district yesterday – and an Over Ground Worker – who was apprehended at Kulgam district – before media. The officers who addressed the press conference include Inspector General of Police (IGP) Munir Ahmad Khan, GOC Victor Force, Major General BS Raju and Inspector General (Operations) CRPF Zulfikar Hassan.
The top officers while speaking to reporters made a joint appeal to militants to lay down their arms and join mainstream while assuring them rehabilitation and secure life ahead. IGP Kashmir, Munir Khan said they had “back to back very good result oriented operations in Shopian and Kulgam in last two days but were different this time”. “The operations were a bit different this time. In Shopian, in spite of the fact that one of the militants namely Adil Hussain Dar, a local guy who had joined militancy around 3 months back, was firing during the course of encounter.
“He was firing at the forces. He lobbed a grenade at the forces. Somehow he lost balance and could not fire anymore,” said the top cop, adding: “he could have been killed by the forces, there was no other way out, but we preferred to give him a chance to come to the mainstream. We preferred that he should join his parents again, that’s why we opted to catch him alive, with a very clear message to others who have been lured into all this that if they come, we will receive them with open arms. Not necessarily during the encounters, even now they can come and join the mainstream.”
The IGP said that two other militants were killed in the Shopian encounter because after persuasion they chose to carry on with firing at the forces and fighting a “lost battle”. He said the second operation was carried out in Khudwani area of Kulgam district and it “again (was) a very clean and crisp operation last night”. “There was another guy by the name of Arif – an established chronic over ground worker (OGW) – lifeline for the militants in that area. There were all the reasons to knock him off during the encounter.
“But no, he was not having a weapon, so we did not kill him. Nobody would have questioned or raised a finger if he was killed because he was with the militants and this was not for the first time that he was arranging logistics for them. He is a habitual and an established OGW but (with) no weapon and we did not kill him,” he said. The IGP while attempting to draw comparison between militants and security forces said: “This is the difference between a disciplined force and a terrorist.
“These terrorists kill our men when they are on leave at their houses or go to meet their parents or when they are playing volleyball with their friends, they hit them they kill them, this is the difference.” Asked whether there is clear cut policy for surrendered militants, the IGP said that the security forces are supposed to rehabilitate any militant whom they arrest or who surrenders if he is not involved in various heinous offences.
“If he is not involved in various crimes we are supposed to rehabilitate him and help him join the mainstream you must have seen the surrender policy it’s a document which normally is followed in case of such cases,” he said. The IGP said that there is a surrender policy for militants and the Government is very keen to rehabilitate them.
GOC Victor Force, Major General BS Raju, said the operation at Shopian was “very accurate” and it took four-five hours for them to persuade Adil, the militant who surrendered, with the help of civilians. Briefing the reporters, he said during the firefight two militants got into the house and then at particular time all the agencies ensured strict fire control “because any fire there could have endangered the lives of the civilian present in the houses”.
“Thereafter the police and security agencies tried to tell the civilians to come out of their houses and since it was dark the civilians were hesitant to come out but the civilians did give us information that one terrorist was inside the house and then took the chance to talk that individual through the help of civilians. It took us approximately four to five hours heart talking and persuasion to make Adil Hussain surrender.
“And it was well past midnight approaching 1 in the morning, finally Adil Hussain…came out of the house and laid down his arms. We truly appreciate the courage of the individual took to come out,” the GOC said. The Army Commander said that it was not first time that security agencies had asked militants to surrender.
“The first such incident was in March 17, this year. We had Padgampora operation where one Mohammad Shafi was made to talk to his wife,” he said and cited another example of slain Ansar Ghazwatul Hind commander Abu Dujana, saying one of their company commander’s spoke to him at length despite being a foreign militant but he did not relent. “And today we are extremely happy that the man relented and shun the path of violence and keep another day to contribute to the society,” he said, adding that the incentive for making a militant surrender is double than killing him.
IG CRPF (operations) Zulfikar Hassan said today all the three vital security agencies are appealing militants to lay down their arms and assured them of rehabilitation. “We as all three of us together who operate on the field we want to assure every citizen of Kashmir that if anyone wants to surrender, safe passage is assured, rehabilitation is assured and when three agencies combine together with all the resources, we can assure a good life, a safe life to anyone of the Valley who wants to surrender who wants to come to the mainstream.
“We as three vital parts of the security apparatus in the Valley want to assure every person of the Valley that if your future would be safe if you decide to get away whoever is misguiding you and we can assure you bright future,” he said, adding that making a militant surrender is their highest priority. “In our system the biggest incentive is given to a person who ensures surrender because that is the biggest achievement. Surrender is always considered a biggest. We all feel sad when somebody dies. It doesn’t give happiness to any of us.
“So, surrender will always be on the highest achievement, even for our men that if you get surrenders, that is the biggest thing you can do and that is the biggest achievement,” he said. The IG said the highlight of the two operations at Shopian and Kulgam was that they were conducted in areas which are volatile to say the least but there was no civilian casualty and there was no civilian injury. “A new phase I think we all want to enter and is where we can conduct operations without getting in confrontation with civilian population and that has been through the yesterday,” he said.
The Army’s GOC Victor Force, appealed parents to prevent their wards from treading militant path. “In the end I would like to make an appeal which I have done may times earlier that I am looking at the fathers, mothers, sisters, brother of militants whose wards had joined militancy or who are about to join militancy, my appeal to you all is to these gentlemen is to ensure please don’t allow them to take path of violence because this has not taken the whole process in the Valley anywhere. It only leads to destruction, miseries to the families and miseries to the communities at large,” he said.
The GOC, however, said that the operations against the militants would continue till peace returns to South Kashmir. “The synergy that is there will ensure that our pace of operations will continue and these operation(s), we hope to ensure that especially south Kashmir remains calm so that the people can live in greater freedom,” he said and termed the presence of fidayeen militants in southern region a cause of concern.
“It is fact there is an influx of Jaish-e-Muhammad cadre in South Kashmir. It is a cause of concern because they are typically getting into fidayeen mode. But we have methods and measures to ensure this kind of activity is also kept in check,” he said and added that the number of militants in South Kashmir is 113, out of 100 are locals while rest are foreigners.
IGP Munir Khan, in reply to a question about over ground workers holding weapons said that militants engage OGWs like the one who was apprehended today at Kulgam for carrying out specific killings. “So, we are looking for them also. It’s not a new scenario, it has been happening for all these years,” he said. The IG said that the aim behind targeting militant leadership is to curtail militant recruitment in south Kashmir.
“As far as the new recruitment is concerned, why don’t you understand why are we targeting the militant leadership. That is the reason because it is the leadership who recruits. So, our target is the leadership to stop for the recruitment,” he said and complimented army for foiling infiltration bids at Line of Control. “The recruitment and infiltration are two different things but compliments to the army that in spite of the number of infiltration bids, those have been foiled effectively by the army. (Although) I don’t deny that some of them might have come in,” he said.
Asked about decline in stone-pelting incidents after National Investigation Agency (NIA) raids, the IGP credited all agencies for decrease in stone-pelting and said”: “Everybody, whether it is NIA, the CRPF, Army or police contribute to bring peace. It is always a joint effort by everybody so we won’t talk about anyone separately.”
In the meantime, two militants were killed in a gunfight with security forces in Kulgam district of South Kashmir and an over-ground worker (OGW) was arrested during the operation.
Security forces today launched a cordon and search operation in Khudwani area of Kulgam district early today following “specific information” about the presence of some militants there.
During searches, the militants opened fire at the forces. The fire was retaliated by the forces, leading to a gunfight. Two militants of Hizbul Mujahideen outfit were killed in the encounter. Two weapons were recovered from their possession.
The slain militants were identified as Sayar Ahmad Wani and Dawood Illahi Khan. The OGW arrested during the operation was identified as Arif Sofi and he was apprehended with a pistol.
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