Srinagar, Apr 9: As many as 52 youth from various districts of Jammu and Kashmir, who had crossed the line of control for arms training in early nineties, have returned to their home since the announcement of rehabilitation policy by Omar Abdullah-led coalition government.
The state government had announced the rehabilitation policy for all those youth who crossed over to PaK following eruption of militancy and are now eager to return and settle as normal citizens.
“Some people have returned and the process is going on. I would not disclose the routes of their return as they are operational matters,” JK Home Secretary B R Sharma told Greater Kashmir.
He added that the statistics about the exact number of returned youth lie with the Inspector General of Police (IGP) CID. “Figures are with them and they can be verified there only,” Sharma added.
“As many as 52 such people have returned and the process is going on,” a senior CID official told Greater Kashmir on the basis of anonymity.
The official added that after their return, these youth are taken into custody and booked under Egress and Internal Movement Control Act (EIMCA). “Later they are being bailed out by respective courts of their districts,” he said.
He said that Okaying of an application for return from PAK is an uphill task. The reason for it, according to the official, is that the applicants will have to undergo screenings at many levels before they are allowed to return. “The applications are being scrutinized first at the level of the SHOs, Superintendents of Police (SP) and then forwarded to CID headquarters where they are examined in consultation with the central intelligence agencies and other security agencies,” the official said.
The rehabilitation policy was announced in November 2010 by chief minister Omar Abdullah with the claim that many such youth were ready to return. However Home Minister P Chidambaram had said that some ‘practical issues’ were coming in the way of implementing the policy.
Later a high-level committee comprising representatives of J&K government, Union Home Ministry, Army and others scrutinized the applications of youth who wanted to return. After verifying their antecedents, the committee cleared 28 names in first instance according to records available with CID wing of J&K Police.
On March 23, 2012, the chief minister in reply to a cut motion by CPI (M) member M Y Tarigami in Assembly said that so far 1034 applications have been received under the rehabilitation policy.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 9 Apr 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 9 Apr 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 10 Apr 2012 00:00:00 IST