Kill foreign ultras

June 18, 2007

Tackling terrorism the Azad way
Persuasion, bullet-for-bullet policy
S.P. Sharma
Tribune News Service

Jammu, June 17
Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has launched a campaign to wipe out terrorism from his home district of Doda by motivating the surrender of militants and following the bullet-for-bullet policy for the foreign terrorists.

More than 20 top militants have surrendered before the Army and the police in the past . A team of top Israeli military officers visited here on Thursday to give lessons on tackling terrorism to security personnel as Pakistan again has started pushing in militants from launching pads. The biggest surrender came on June 5 when 10 top Harkat-ul-Mujaheedin (HUM) militants laid down arms before Azad at a ceremony at Doda district headquarters.

These surrenders have broken the back of foreign terrorists operating with the support of local militants in Doda, Kishtwar, Bhaderwah and other areas of the district for the past 18 years. Doda in Jammu and the adjoining Anantnag in the Kashmir valley have remained the hotbed of terrorism.

The police has also arrested several over-ground workers (OGWs), the lifeline of terrorists, as they were engaged in supplying logistics, including ammunition, rations and SIM cards of mobile phones, to them in their hideouts.

While the surrenders have come from HuM and Hizbul Mujaheedin (HM), Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militants, who mostly were Pakistanis and Afghans, have refused to give up "jehad". To create scare in the area, the LeT militants have killed relatives of local militants who surrendered before the authorities.

Azad recently appointed a handpicked police officer, Manohar Singh, as SSP of Doda, with the task of cleansing the district of terrorism. Azad represents the Bhaderwah assembly segment of the district.

Terrorists recently shot DSP Shailey Singh in Bhaderwah when he tried to overpower a group of foreign terrorists. Another DSP Yougal Kumar was seriously wounded when terrorists ambushed his jeep in the border town of Mendhar.

However, Azad has vowed to revive peace, particularly in his home district by motivating surrenders.

To lure militants Azad has made it clear that local ultras who surrender will be entitled to all benefits of the surrender policy that includes a fixed deposit of Rs 50 lakh for three years, monthly stipend of Rs 2,000, cost of the weapons surrendered and free vocational training for their rehabilitation. He has asked the security forces to be alert that the surrendered ultras do not return to terrorism after availing these benefits.