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| From demilitarisation to rehabilitation of militants Omar toes Mufti's policy | | |
Early Times Report
Jammu,February 8:-Step by step Chief Minister,Omar Abdullah,seems to follow the policies and plans,prepared by the PDP patron,Mufti Mohd.Sayeed.During the one-year old National Conference led Government in Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah imitated the Mufti when he started pleading for withdrawal of troops and the repeal of the Armed Forces(special powers)Act.This was what the Mufti had been demanding during the last three years and the only difference was that while the PDP leader termed it demilitarisation Omar talked of withdrawal of troops.
Though during the Mufti led Government some of the hospitals,school buildings,orchards and agricultural fields had been vacated by the troops,there were still some areas where Army people continued to stay.And Omar Abdullah had not missed the opportunity for demanding that the troops be asked to vacate the Government and private buildings and land.
Latest slogan of Omar Abdullah reminds one of the demand that Mufti Sayeed had raised five years ago.The Mufti,when in power and out of power,
wanted the centre to initiate measures so that Kashmiri boys,who had crossed into Pakistan occupied kashmir for arms training between 1988 and 2,000,were able to return to the valley as civilians.The Mufti had voiced this demand after a number of parents of those boys,who had gone to occupied Kashmir,requested the former Chief Minister to intervene so that their wards could return as they had decided to shun violence.
And when Omar Abdullah addressed a conference on internal security,convened by Prime Minister,Manmohan Singh,in New Delhi on Sunday he demanded that a new policy of surrender and rehabilitation ber formulated for those boys,who were in occupied Kashmir,wanting to return to Kashmir without weapons.He had indicated that his Government was exploring the possibility of framing such a policy.Well senior police functionaries in Srinagar said that there was no doubt that there were between 4,000 and 5,000 Kashmiri boys in Pakistan occupied kashmir where they had gone for arms training during the last 20 years who were keen to return to the valley,their return could not be within the ambit of the state Government's policy.
These functionaries said that it depends on the attitude of the occupied Kashmir Government and the establishment in Islamabad what policy they will adopt whenever the Government of India raised the issue with Pakistan Government.According to these functionaries,that these boys were very keen to return to Kashmir is evident from the way more than 150 such youths managed to return via Nepal.They said some of them travelled to Nepal on some travel documents and from Kathmandu they would travel by train and bus to Srinagar.In various cases they surrendered before the police and other security agencies.One police officer said that some of the boys,who had married women across the LOC,returned alongwith their wives and children."It has become difficult for us to decide the fate of these chidlren who for all practical purposes are Pakistani nationals,"the officer said.
He said most of these boys have set up small wayside business ventures,including tea stalls and provision stores in occupied Kashmir.But most of them have become homsesick.They do not dare to cross the LOC illegally because they have fears that they may be killed either by the Pakistani troops or by the Indian border guards.A senior PDP leader said that the boys across the LOC have shown keen interest to return only after the erstwhile Mufti led Government had introduced suitable rehabilitation policy for those militants who surrendered.He said if the Government of India formulated a better policy for rehabilitation of militants it could motivate more boys,staying in occupied Kashmir,to return to Kashmir.
But the police experts doubt whether Islamabad and Muzaffarabad agree to allow these boys to return to Kashmir under some agreement because hitherto the establishment in Islamabad has been showcasing these boys as specimen of the alleged "repression let loose by the Indian security forces in the valley."(eom)
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