| Kill jawan to get Rs 6 lakh, job | | Union Govt to examine new rehabilitation policy | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Apr 6: The BJP-led NDA Government at the Centre may approve the new rehabilitation policy devised by the PDP-led coalition government in J&K, which, if accepted, would surely incentivize terrorists in the state. Sources close to the North Block, which houses Union Home Ministry, suggest that the "Centre will shortly examine the J&K government's revised terrorist surrender-and-rehabilitation policy that "proposes to raise the financial incentive for surrendering militant to Rs 6 lakh payable after a 10-year lock-in period, from the current Rs 1.5 lakh payable after three years".
Sources say that "it is at the request of the Union Home Ministry that the state government has redrawn the policy in force since 2004 to bring back local Kashmiris who joined militancy into the mainstream". "The existing policy," according to sources, "is seen as outdated, particularly as the surrender scheme for insurgents in the relatively peaceful north-east region now offers a Rs 4 lakh incentive, to be put in a fixed deposit for encashing at three years, and a Rs 6,000 stipend per month for up to three years after surrender".
Endorsing the new policy, a senior official in the central security establishment has reportedly said: "Higher financial benefit of Rs 6 lakh, along with Rs 4,000 interest payable per month to the surrendering militant through the 10-year lock-in period, is in order considering the far higher levels of violence in the state vis-a-vis north-eastern region. The involvement of a third country (Pakistan) in sponsoring the violence in J&K further justifies the higher benefits".
Not just this, the said official also reportedly refuted the charge that the "better benefits, including an increased reward for each weapon turned in, would bleed the exchequer, an officer argued that militants laying down arms would bring down potential killings, including that of security personnel that involve payment of handsome ex-gratia amounts".
If these reports are to be believed, then it can be said that the Union Home Ministry, which last month asked CM Mehbooba Mufti to drop charges against 9,730 stone-pelters in Kashmir, might approve the new rehabilitation policy ignoring the opposition from BJP leaders from Jammu. Local BJP leaders in state had only recently objected to the proposed policy and said that "it stood to 'incentivise terrorists' and has the potential to sap the morale of troops engaged in fighting terrorism in the Valley state". |
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