Two more Kashmiri ultras with Pakistani
wives, children held
UP police sounds Kashmir
counterparts
JAMMU, May 1: In
less than a month after the crossing of four Kashmiri militants along with
their Pakistani wives and children from Madhubani district of Bihar along
Indo-Nepal border, two more Kashmiri ultras, or former militants, along with
their wives and four children have been detained by Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB)
at Maharajaganj in Uttar Pradesh, bordering Nepal, this morning. The detentions came even as the National
Investigating Agency (NIA) was yet to complete its enquiry into the arrest of
Kashmiri militant Liyaqat Shah by Delhi
Police. The Delhi Police had arrested Liyaqat Shah in March claiming that
he was plotting a terror attack at a shopping mall while Jammu
and Kashmir Police had claimed that he had returned from Pakistan via
Indo-Nepal border in Uttar Pradesh. Shah is still in the judicial custody.
Official
sources told the Excelsior that a team of SSB intercepted eight persons
including four children when they were heading towards the Indian territory
after crossing from Nepal
border at Maharajaganj area of Uttar Pradesh early this morning. The SSB called
local police of Maharajaganj police station and both started questioning of the
infiltrators. Sources said both the male infiltrators disclosed their identity
to the SSB and local police as Muzaffar Ahmad and Mohammad Rashid, residents of
Kupwara district in the Kashmir
Valley. They were
accompanied by their two Pakistani wives whom they had married after
exfiltration to Pakistan
occupied Kashmir (PoK) in nineties for arms
training.
The
Kashmiri militants, or former militants, disclosed that they had crossed over
to PoK from the LoC in Kupwara sector in mid nineties for arms training after
being lured by the militants of Hizbul Mujahideen outfit. They were reported to
have admitted undergoing arms training but said later they were disenchanted
with the militancy and shunned it. The duo married the PoK woman and had two
children each. They were working in local shops to earn their livelihood. They
were reported to have managed passports and visas for Nepal after paying money to some agents and flew
to Kathmandu from Karachi.
From Kathmandu, they sneaked into Indian side
along Indo-Nepal border.
Sources said
Uttar Pradesh have established contact with Kashmir Police to ascertain
credentials of the Kashmiri militants. The militants along with their wives and
children could be handed over to Kashmir Police.
These
were the second detentions of Kashmiri militants returning from Pakistan/PoK
after the arrest of Liyaqat Shah by New Delhi
police last month, which had triggered uproar in the Assembly as well as parts
of the Kashmir Valley. After the State Government
announced Rehabilitation Policy for the former militants returning from Pakistan and PoK without weapons from four
identified routes, about over 200 such persons along with their family members
had come back to the State via Nepal
border after taking flights from Karachi to Kathmandu.
Nearly 700 former militants had applied for
return under the Rehabilitation Policy through their families here but all
those, who have come back so far, took Nepal route, which was not part of
the Rehabilitation Policy. Four legal routes for the militants to take
advantage of Rehabilitation Policy included Chakan-Da-Bagh (Poonch-Rawlakote),
Uri-Muzaffarabad in Kashmir, Wagah border in Amritsar
district of Pakistan and Indira Gandhi International
Airport in New Delhi. Sources said the militants, or
former militants, were unable to take these routes due to presence of Pakistani
Army and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) on these routes.
The Indian
Intelligence agencies were also worried that some of the militants, though not
active now, could be used by the militants present in the State to revive the
dying militancy. Moreover, most of the militants were returning with Pakistani
wives, who could also pose a security risk at some stage.
On
April 10, 12 persons including four Kashmiri militants, their three Pakistani
wives and five children had been detained by the SSB and Bihar Police at
Madhubani district of Bihar falling along Indo-Nepal border. The Bihar Police
had handed them over to Kashmir Police.
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