Militant surrenders in southern Kashmir, police say

Anantnag, January 30 (KMW): A Kashmiri youth who had joined a militant group has surrendered before the government forces and returned to his family, reports claimed.
“A young boy who had earlier joined militant ranks has come back to the mainstream in south Kashmir and left the path of violence and destruction,” Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police (DGP) SP Vaid said during a press conference on Monday, The Tribune reported.
The report of the youth’s return came two months after 20-year-old Majid Khan, hailing from Jammu and Kashmir’s Islamabad area had surrendered before government forces in Kashmir.
To encourage more such youths to join the mainstream, the state government is formulating a new surrender policy to “get positive results in the near future”.
Under the existing one, which was effected in 2004 and changed in 2010, a total of 608 militants had surrendered before government forces between 2004 and March 2015. Nearly Rs 10 crore had been spent on them during the same period, according to local media reports.
Between 2004 and 2008, when the state was being governed by the PDP-Congress alliance, over 550 militants had surrendered. This figure, however, dropped drastically to 57 between 2009 and 2014, when the National Conference was in the power.
Also, 453 former militants returned home via the Nepal route along with their wives (Pakistani nationals) and children after the new policy was enforced in 2010, reported The Tribune.