Cashing in on the emotional links between young militants and their mothers, J&K police is adopting “soft measures” to ensure return of boys, who have joined militant ranks in Kashmir, to their families.
According to police, these measures have helped it “control” the local militant recruitment in Kashmir that had unnerved all the security agencies ever since the killing of Hizb commander BurhanWani in July 2016.
A senior police officer said that it takes a lot of “persuasion” to ensure safe return of a youth. “There is no room to be harsh with the families whose loved ones have joined various militant groups. A process of healing the wounds of such parents is on by the police,” he said, wishing anonymity.
He said the trend of local boys joining the militant ranks had created an alarming situation for the security agencies, even though the forces had managed to kill 210 militants including 15 top commanders in 2017 alone.
“The number of active militants continued to remain static at 200 and it was decided to get in touch with the families of the boys who have picked up the arms. Though the success rate of ensuring return of the boys remains low, the process is picking up,” the officer said.
Admitting that joining of militant ranks by the young boys including those educated, had emerged as a “big challenge” for the police and other security agencies, director general of police, Shesh Paul Vaid said, “One of the youths who had joined militancy a few months back, returned to his family.”
“He (the boy) accepted his mother’s wish to return. Mother’s cry is the biggest weapon and here it worked. We have welcomed this young chap for his reunion with his family,” the DGP said.
He said so far, 17 youth, who had joined various militant groups, had returned to their families. “We are keeping their return a secret just to ensure their security and safety,” Vaid said.
Asked as to whether the recruitment of young and educated boys into various militant outfits had stopped, the J&K police chief said: “No, local militant recruitment is on, but we have managed to bring it down considerably with the cooperation of families of young militants. Their mothers are playing a vital role in ensuring return of their sons. In majority of the cases, boys agreed only after talking to their mothers.”
He said that police was in constant touch with the families of the young militant recruits.
Vaid said the return shouldn’t be considered as a “surrender but as a re-union.”
“When a family knows that their son would be killed in five or six months’ time, only they know the pain. So we don’t want to give it (return of a youth), a name of surrender,” said Vaid.
A police source said that return of youth to their families was considered as a “silent surrender” and police maintained record of every person who joined back his family.
“We are strictly told to keep the identity of the person hidden as there are security concerns,” he said.
An official in the state home department said that all those who returned to live a peaceful life would be covered under the new rehabilitation policy being framed by the government.
“The new policy will take care of their livelihood as well,” he said.
“The policy is in its final stage and will be tabled in the cabinet soon.”
Earlier, a few cases had come to fore where police men had allegedly barged into the homes of militants in South Kashmir and “ransacked the belongings besides warning the parents.” This had triggered a verbal war between the militants and the police with the former adopting the same “practice” against the police. This had forced the police chief to convey to the militants not to involve families of cops.