No more surrenders at LoC, govt tells Army(Amnesty gone wrong)

Times Of India ^ | 28 Jul 2007, 0034 hrs IST | Pradeep Thakur

[samsonite]

NEW DELHI: Increasingly suspicious that its policy for the rehabilitation of militants who surrendered was being exploited, the government has asked Army to discontinue offering any more amnesty to "misguided youth" who are offering to come back from Pakistan and lay down arms.

Rehabilitation of surrendered militants was part of the healing touch policy unveiled by the government on the assumption that some of the youth who crossed over into Pakistan to take up guns were no longer enamoured of the jehad in Kashmir and may, feeling fatigued, be allowed to return and given the opportunity to turn a new leaf.

The enthusiasm, however, soon gave way to apprehension with doubts piling of rampant misuse by jehadi groups as well as those on the lookout to collect money from the government by passing themselves off as militants.

The strong action has been provoked by warning sounded by intelligence agencies as well as the state government over the manner in which surrenders have been happening at the LoC.

In the dossier sent to the Union home ministry sometime back, sleuths pointed out a distinct pattern in the surrenders: the confessional statements read exactly the same and so were the reasons put forward for the change of heart.

This led to the apprehension of an organised effort by jehadi groups to infiltrate their members. Apart from this, the agencies have also expressed suspicion that some "fake" militants were made to "surrender" with an eye on the money that the state government proposed to spend on the rehabilitation schemes.

Every militant who surrenders at the LoC gets Rs 1.5 lakh as fixed deposit in his bank account. Besides, he is also given a monthly stipend of Rs 2,000 till a job has been arranged.

The package is too lucrative for the largely unemployed youth of J&K who have very few job opportunities available in the state. For a "misguided youth" who surrenders at the LoC, the cost involved is not high — he is tried only for cross-LoC transgression under the Foreigners Act — and let off after a routine interrogation and a cooling off period of a few months in the Army camps.

Sources said a pattern of "surrenders" was noticed at a few Army posts. About 140 militants have "surrendered" at the LoC since 2006, of which 35 were wives and children of terrorists who had married in PoK. Though the Army's request for 900 militants willing to lay down arms had been put in abeyance by the state government, both J&K and the intelligence agencies had briefed the Centre about the possibility of infiltration through the "surrender" route.

Suspicion arose after a militant was found linked to an aborted attempt made on the life of chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad early this year. The militant was found to be one of those who had "surrendered" at the LoC.