KL NEWS NETWORK
SRINAGAR
Security grid may get the same ‘reward’ for arresting a militant that currently is given for gunning them down, if new thought process eventually gets into the policy-making. It emerged during the weekend meeting of civil and police administration that Chief Minister Ms Mehbooba Mufti presided over.
“Why does not army be told that the system of rewards should be the same if a militant is killed or arrested,” a senior police officer suggested at the peak of a literal debate over emphasis on arresting militants, especially locals.
Chief Minister acknowledged that within days after her insistence that local militants should preferably be arrested, a Lashkar militant was arrested from a north Kashmir village. She asked police that this model of counter-insurgency should be preferred because the local militants are misguided. She even suggested that security agencies should involve the families of the local militants so that gun-battles are avoided.
“Such misadvised youth must be given an opportunity to return to normal life and provided an honorable livelihood,” Ms Mufti said. “Get in touch with their families and talk it out with them.”
Interestingly when the debate on the issue was going on in the meeting, reports about the killing of another local militant was received. Identified as Waseem Ahmad Khanday, the resident of a Keller village had snatched a rifle and joined militancy only a month back, police sources said. He was killed in an operation in remote Doubjan forests, running parallel to the Mughal Road.
The meeting also discussed the requirement of revisiting the rehabilitation package so that the militants who will give up weapons can be suitably accommodated.
Chief Minister in her speech asserted that the best way of approaching the situation was to engage. Sources said she arrests and killings are not the answer. “We can’t fight everything with guns and jail,” the Chief Minister said. “We will have to look for alternative means to ensure peace and stability in the State.”
