Srinagar
The Indian Army kept its promise to a Kashmiri woman whose son had joined a militant group four month ago and captured him alive after a gun battle on Sunday in south Kashmir's Pulwama district, an officer said on Monday.
A Pakistan-origin terrorist belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammad, identified as Waseem, was killed and Sohail Lone, a local, was handed over the police after a brief exchange of fire in Khrew's Bathien area in Awantipora.
The army officer said Lone's mother and sisters had appealed him to come back after he joined Jaish-e-Mohammed four months ago.
"We promised his mother that we won't kill him and despite him firing at us, we exercised maximum restraint and apprehended him alive," Colonel S Raghav said, according to news agencies.
South Kashmir has emerged as the hotbed of militancy in the restive state; many fresh militant recruits are believed to be from this area.
Security forces and the state police in Jammu and Kashmir have been trying to make local militants relinquish militancy and return home. The state law enforcement agency even assured repentant militants that they need not come to the police station to surrender under the "no case-no apprehension policy", and can "simply join their families".
A Kashmiri man who had joined a militant group returned home in November last year, days after 20-year-old footballer from the restive state left the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) following his mother's tearful appeal in a video that was widely shared on social media.
The colonel said the army was tracking their movement since a month and had cordoned Bijnari area.
"We nabbed several Over Ground Workers of Jaish-e-Mohammed and busted their racket. We found the location of a Pakistani terrorist and Sohail Lone," he said.
"We recovered one AK-47 rifle, three magazines, two grenades, one pistol along with two magazines," Col Raghav said.
The last week ended on a very violent note in Kashmir after an army soldier, seven militants and a civilian killed in two encounters between security forces and militants in Jammu and Kashmir's Shopian and Pulwama districts on Sunday.
At least 29 people, including 19 militants, seven civilians and three security forces personnel, have been killed in the Kashmir Valley since November 15. Seventeen of these militants, most of them locals, have been killed by security forces in Shopian, Anantnag and Pulwama districts since Wednesday alone.
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