Publication:
Publication: www.dailyexcelsior.com
Date: June 22, 2000
JAMMU, June 21: A surrendered
militant from Pakistan has sought asylum in India after repenting that
so-called `jehad' being waged by Pakistan was nothing but a farce and crime.
Javed Akhter Abbasi son
of Hussain Abbasi, a Warrant Officer in Pakistan Air Force and a resident
of Sarbagala village in Mari area of Rawalpindi told newsmen at a press
conference of Maj Gen H S Kanwar that `there was no name of jehad which
he was told to fight in Jammu and Kashmir when he was sent to India after
arms training'.
"People in Rajouri and
Poonch districts (which was Abbasi's area of operation) have no regrets
from Indian Government. Rather, they want militants to be eliminated
by army. There are absolutely no supporters of jehad there", Abbasi,
who had recently surrendered before army in Rajouri, said.
Seeking asylum in India
forever, the surrendered militant said :"I am ready to face any kind of
punishment which the Courts may award to me for joining militancy".
But, he said, after serving punishment "I should be allowed to stay in
India".
"If I return to Pakistan,
the army and ISI sleuths there will kill me and my family", he quipped.
Abbasi was trained in
handling of arms and explosives at Sainsa training camp of Hizbul Mujahideen
in Kotli district of Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) for more than six
months. A well educated 26 year old Abbasi was given Rs 30,000 at
the time of infiltration besides a couple of AK-47 rifles, ammunition and
explosives. He was promised more money after his return from Rajouri-Poonch
after completing two years tenure.
Abbasi said he was forced
to surrender after realising that jehad for which he had been pushed into
Indian territory by Pakistan had no meaning in Rajouri and Poonch.
"There were no takers of jehad. Instead, people were freely giving
information to army about militants' movement", he added.
An army officer said
Abbasi had surrendered to army in Rajouri alongwith one AK-47 rifle, ammunition
and explosives. His interrogation was still going on, he added.
Meanwhile, army also
produced before newsmen a number of victims of militancy including women
in Poonch, Rajouri and Doda districts. A number of women, whose husbands
or kins had been killed and their modesty outraged, described militants
as criminals and called upon army to kill the ultras mercilessly.
"They are not jehadis
but `darindas', who were killing innocents and raping young girls.
They must be killed ruthlessly", a wailing woman, whose husband was killed
in front of her eyes and then her modesty was outraged, said.
Some youths of Mahore
(Udhampur) and Doda, who were rescued by army while being taken by militants
to Pakistan for arms training, were all praise for army for giving them
a new life.
