stage managed

Srinagar, Nov 19: Jammu and Kashmir police has confirmed that surrender of four Kashmiri youths before the Army was '' stage managed''.

A police spokesman reacting to media reports that an Army officer was responsible for the fake encounter of the youths, said that the drama was enacted at the instance of two former personnel of Territorial Army (TA).

He said two ex-personnel of the 161 Infantry Batallion TA, Kadeer Mir and Ashiq Hussain had approached 14 Rajput alongwith four youths from a village Delina on November 8.

Police spokesman said that a detailed inquiry conducted into the matter by the Army revealed that it was a drama on the instance of two ex-TA personnel for getting monetary benefit under the surrender policy of the government.

He said both the accused were handed over to police after Army questioned them.

A necessary legal action has already been initiated against them, he said.

The Army claimed to have arrested Ashiq Hussain Ganai, Altaf Ahmed Akhoon, Nadim Ahmed Bhat, Wasim Ahmed Khan and Bashir Ahmed Mir, all residents of Baramulla district, on November 8 near the LoC in Uri sector while crossing over to Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) for arms training.

The Army handed over the boys to Baramulla police on Monday evening.

The drama case surfaced during the interrogation at Baramulla police station where the boys refuted the Army claim that they were trying to cross over to PoK and alleged that they were being implicated in a ''false case''.

The youths claimed that about 5-6 days ago, a person from Uri approached and told them that a recruitment drive was on in the Army for its unit deployed along the Line of Control (LoC) besides they would also be given Rs two lakh each in cash. The boys said they readily accompanied him as the job offer was ''too lucrative''.

They claimed that the person took them to an officer who told them they would be getting Rs 60,000 each in cash.

However, the officer allegedly put a condition that the boys have to surrender along with arms before the troops in the presence of media. ''We were told to admit before the media that we have returned to Kashmir after getting the arms training in PoK,'' the boys alleged.

The boys alleged that when they refused they were falsely implicated and charged with crossing over to PoK for arms training.

The boys had narrated the entire ''story'' to several journalists who visited them in Baramulla police station.

However, defence ministry spokesman strongly refuted the allegation and said that the four were introduced as HM militants who wanted to surrender.

He said the allegations levelled by the youths were aimed at tarnishing the image of the Army.

Spokesman said that on investigations, four were unable to answer the basic questions such as infiltration/exfiltration routes, their guides layout of the camps and their commanders.

It was immediately judged that it was a racket and called SDPO Uri Mohammad Yousuf Chaudhary, who interrogated them and confirmed that these youths wanted to exploit the surrender policy benefits.

During the interrogation of the boys by the SDPO two ex-TA personnel confessed that they wanted to establish their lost credibility and in turn lured these boys to surrender for financial incentives.

He said the Army's endeavour has always been to effect surrenders of genuine militants, adding in this case, a racket was unearthed wherein youth from hinterland were being lured to surrender for benefits.

Spokesman said as of now, Mir and Ganai are in police custody making all efforts to mitigate their crime by making false accusations. Allegations being leveled against the Army by Mir are mischievous and lack substance.

UNI