Increasing presence of foreign militants in J&K

By Our Special Correspondent

JAMMU, APRIL 2. The involvement of foreign militants in Kashmir's armed struggle is on the increase even as 115 foreigners are languishing in the State's various jails. They continue to be under trial but none of them has been prosecuted. Of the 87 militants who escaped from custody in the last 11 years, many were foreigners while 26 were re-arrested.

Giving this information in the State Assembly on Saturday, the J&K Home Minister said the prosecution process against the 115 militants had been launched and the cases were at various stages of completion. In reply to a question by Mr. Harsh Dev Singh of the Panther's Party, the Minister said that of the 115 foreign militants 57 were from Pakistan, 40 from Pakistan- occupied Kashmir and 13 from Afghanistan - most of them from Mazar-e- Sharief. One militant was a Lebanese citizen while another was a Pakistani with proof of residence in Manchester, England. Among the arrested militants is Nassrullah Largiyal, chief of the Harkat-e-Jehadi Islami and an Afghan war veteran.

Most of the foreign militants are in the Kotbhalwal jail near here while the others are in Rajouri, Jammu Central Jail, Hiranagar, Kathua, Udhampur and a dozen in Rajasthan's Jodhpur jail along with the entire leadership of the Hurriyat Conference.

On the escape of militants from jails, the Home Minister said that in the last 11 years, 87 militants escaped from custody. Then there was the infamous jailbreak in Kotbhalwal in which Irfan, responsible for the January 1996 Republic Day blast in Jammu, escaped with two others. According to the Minister action had been initiated against 32 erring jail officials and 23 officials including a jail superintendent were dismissed from service while nine others suspended. Several steps had been taken to prevent jailbreaks, the Minister said and added that security arrangements were being reviewed from time to time. Troop deployment and patrolling by jail staff had been increased. To another question, the Minister said 10,836 civilians had been killed in the State since 1990. Of them, 2,656 died in cross- firing incidents and 8,180 were slain by militants. Besides, 2,153 security force and police personnel lost their lives. The Minister said 10,999 militants were killed during the period.

Besides, the number of pending cases of ex-gratia relief was increasing and the jobs promised to the next of kin of the victims of militancy-related violence were not filled. According to the Home Minister, 1,693 cases of ex-gratia relief were pending. Srinagar district tops the list with 727 cases followed by Baramulla with 372 and Anantnag with 265. Similarly, the number of those assured jobs under this provision is 2,710 with Srinagar again having the highest number of 600. The number of sanctioned ex-gratia relief cases is 8,803 and jobs given are 1,884.

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