Centre to ask J-K to probe ‘surrenders’

Days after The Indian Express expose on the surrender of 27 unemployed innocent men from the Valley who were passed off at an Army ceremony ...

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Days after The Indian Express expose on the surrender of 27 unemployed innocent men from the Valley who were passed off at an Army ceremony as ‘‘militants,’’ the Centre has promised to tell the Jammu and Kashmir government to look into the incident.

Home Minister Shivraj Patil told the Lok Sabha during question hour that the Centre will ‘‘certainly ask’’ the state government to look into the matter. And if needed, the Centre would probe the incident, he said.

The issue was raised by Omar Abdullah of the National Conference, who sought to know if the Centre was aware of the surrender scandal. He also asked if the Centre would probe it.

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The Indian Express investigation had found how two Congress activists—one of them is in custody—promised jobs to 27 unemployed innocent people and lured them into posing as militants and ‘‘surrendering’’ at Nagrota on November 9.

Seven of these men The Indian Express spoke to later said how they were lured by the promise of jobs and a ‘‘meeting with Sonia Gandhi’’ and were then kept in detention for weeks until the ceremony.

Patil also told the Lok Sabha that infiltration from Pakistan had dropped by 60 per cent. He said, ‘‘The situation in Jammu and kashmir has improved. Infiltration has come down by 60 per cent. Daily average incidents, which were 11 in 2002 and nine in 2003, have dropped to six this year.’’

He said the Government would talk to any group in J-K or in the North-East which abjured violence. He said the Government policy was to talk to those who did not lay down any pre-conditions. This prompted Harin Pathak of the BJP to refer to Congress governments in some states talking to groups which had not laid down arms.

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The Home Minister responded by saying that even ‘‘you’’ (the NDA Government) had entered into negotiations with Naga groups which had not laid down their arms. He said the effort of his government was to talk to all groups, bring them into the mainstream, usher in development, ensure social justice, correct any excesses if they have been committed by security forces and take a view on any law which the people felt was draconian.

PDP member Mehbooba Mufti asked whether the NDA Government had promised to Hurriyat leaders that they would be allowed to visit Pakistan before the third round of talks. She sought to know if the UPA Government was ‘‘willing to allow them to go to Pakistan.’’ Patil said there was no objection to allowing anyone to visit Pakistan. But they should apply in a proper manner and ‘‘we shall certainly consider it and take a decision.’’