2 more families among 21 surrender

Nowgam, North Kashmir, Dec 23: Two more families of ultra, consisting of 13 members, and eight other trained militants, surrendered before the army here after their return from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK).

More than 100 militants and their families have so far surrendered before the Army and Jammu and Kashmir police after their return from POK since January this year.

We were leading a painful life in the camps set up across the border in the POK, the militants said after their surrender.

They said the militants from other countries and different cities of Pakistan were torturing the Kashmiri youths mentally and physically.

The Kashmiri youths, still in these camps, were being suspected as '' mukhbirs'' (Indian informers) by these militants, said Sageer Ahmad who surrendered along with his wife, four sons and a daughter.

Sageer said he and other Kashmiri youths were taken to POK for arms training by different militant organisations after threatening their families. Initially everything was normal in the camps, where militants were being given arms training. However, after Kashmiri youths surrendered themselves, things started changing, he said.

''We were not being fed properly and often abushed by the organisers of the camps,'' he said.

Sageer said several Kashmiri youths married to girls of POK after they found it almost impossible to return back to their homes here.

''Our repeated pleas to allow us to cross over to Kashmir valley was turned down by the leaders, who live lavish lives with facilities for them and their family members, the surrendered ultras said.

UNI