Army refuses to allow them in
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, July 1: Army refused to allow two Hizbul Mujahideen militants to cross the Line of Control (LoC) to two militants, who wanted to return to Surankote tehsil in Poonch district from near Chakan-Da-Bagh in early hours of this morning.
Official sources said the militants were not allowed to return as they were trying to enter into Indian territory from an “unauthorized route’’.
The militants had disclosed their identity to the Army as Nasir Hussain and Mohammad Farooq, residents of village Hari Marhot in Surankote tehsil.
Sources said two militants appeared at the LoC near Chakan-Da-Bagh in Poonch sector 5.35 am today and approached the nearby Army post for surrender. Army inquired their identity and other details from them.
However, they said, since the militants were trying to cross from an “unauthorized route’’, they were asked to return.
Proper Chakan-Da-Bagh is authorized route of return by the militants provided that they had applied for return under Rehabilitation Policy of the State Government, duly approved by the Home Ministry.
Sources said the militants were not returning from Main Chakan-Da-Bagh but from adjacent unauthorized route on the LoC.
Investigations by the Intelligence agencies revealed that the militants were affiliated to Hizbul Mujahideen outfit and had crossed over to Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) in mid-nineties. Their families had applied here for return of their kin under Rehabilitation Policy of the Government.
The Government had identified four points for return of the militants, hailing from Jammu and Kashmir, who had crossed over to Pakistan or PoK during past over two decades of militants, which included Chakan-Da-Bagh on Poonch-Rawlakote route, Uri-Muzaffarabad route in Kashmir, Wagah border in Amritsar and Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport in New Delhi.
However, as Pakistan Army and other agencies across the border were keeping strict vigil on all four authorized points for return of the militants, the latter had been left with no other option but to take alternate route to return.
Few days back, about 40 PoK settlers including nine militants of Jammu and Kashmir, their Pakistani wives and children had return to India from Nepal route after taking flight from Karachi to Kathmandu. They were arrested at Nepal border and brought to Srinagar by the State Police. All of them have been bailed out.
Sources said the militants, who tried to enter today from Chakan-Da-Bagh were without families. It couldn’t be ascertained whether they had married in PoK during their about 15 years stay or not.
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