Click to play videoRamban, J&K: With the recent surrender of twelve top Hizb-ul-Mujahideen militants in Jammu, due to lack of public support and finances for militancy, it may be time for another review of the surrender policy.
The Mujahid militants had been operating in the Gool area of Ramban and in Pulwama in Kashmir for over six years. Now as they surrendered their arms in full view of a crowd, they said that there was not much support for militancy in the Kashmir valley.
Former divisional commander of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, Manzoor Ahmad, said, “There is nothing coming from across the borders for us. Funds and ammunition are drying up.”
Fellow Mujahid Riyaz Ahmad agreed.
“This (surrender) is the right path. Our lives have been saved. We would get a new chance to live with our families,” he said.
As militants like these return to the mainstream, the state's surrender policy is facing a review.
In 2004, during Mufti Mohammad Sayeed's tenure as Chief Minister, it had been revised to grant Rs 2000 per month and Rs 1.5 lakh to those who lay down arms.
But some of the surrendered militants took to the gun again and the Army had faced considerable embarrassment three years back, when the fake surrenders had come into the limelight.
Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad explains, “The policy has its shortcomings and both the Centre and state governments are working to correct the shortcomings.
You can't surrender today and pick up the gun again tomorrow,” he asserted.
In 19 years of violence, over 4000 militants have surrendered, but the need for proper screenings and an effective rehabilitation programme has perhaps never been felt as acutely as now in Kashmir.
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