Not much to Poonch hostage drama

Much ado about nothing. This is exactly what happened with the state police when one of its intelligence wing flashed a message that militan...

Much ado about nothing. This is exactly what happened with the state police when one of its intelligence wing flashed a message that militants had entered the house of a surrendered militant and taken his family hostage at Khanetar in the border district of Poonch. Senior police officers rushed to the spot only to find that the message was a hoax.

Giving details, sources said a senior official of an intelligence agency flashed a message this morning that militants, who were being chased by Army troops in Khanetar forests, had held the family of a surrendered militant, Ishaq Ahmed, hostage.

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The message also said that the militants were using Ahmed’s children as human shields forcing the troops to stop firing at them, and two blasts had taken place near his house which had been cordoned by the police.

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Following the message, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Headquarters, Naseer Ahmed, along with a team of police rushed to Khanetar. However, reaching the spot, the police found that no such incident had taken place.

The DSP later said that a child at the house of surrendered militant had burst some crackers in the morning, which was mistaken for a blast.