New J&K surrender policy to target local militants

New J&K surrender policy to target local militants

Context

• The Army and the J&K Police, in a joint appeal asked all local militants to give up arms and assured them “full cooperation” to join the mainstream under the fresh surrender policy framed by the government as over 130 local militants are still active in the Valley.

Start of a new phase

• Army is after foreign terrorists; therefore they want to give the local boys a chance to surrender.
• The coming home of Majid Khan, who had joined Lashkar-e-Taiba will embark this new phase.
• “I hope mothers of other militants will follow suit in making an appeal. I foresee a violence-free and disturbance-free Kashmir soon,” said J&K DGP S.P. Vaid.
• Army suggested that the local militants could use the helpline if they want to come back.

The fresh surrender policy

• The government has taken inputs from all security agencies to frame the fresh policy
• Earlier, the surrender policy was limited to those who crossed the Line of Control into Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in the early 1990s and were stuck there.
• The new surrender policy is considering provision of “passports and jobs to any local youth who gives up the gun” and “support for his full assimilation into society.”

The homecoming

• Parents of two more militants have appealed through the media to their sons to give up militancy and rejoin the family.
• Around 60 boys have already been brought back into the fold, said the police.
• This is being considered a remarkable change in the situation. The agitation that peaked earlier this year has been brought under control.