New Delhi: By early March, a new surrender and rehabilitation policy, thefirst in 14 years, will be launched in Kashmir.
The policy, which may be called ‘Reintegration Scheme’, may reward familymembers or friends of surrendered militants who help get them back into themainstream.
Several senior officers working on the draft policy shared details of thescheme with News18.
The joint effort by the Ministry of Home Affairs and the three securityagencies in the Valley — J&K Police, Army and the CRPF — will be the mostambitious outreach program to get active militants back into the society.
According to the draft, the scheme will reward those who help bring themilitants back, ensure the protection of the surrendered militants andtheir families, ensure that the surrendered militants don’t suffer aprolonged trial, and identify jobs for them.
“We will not call it a ‘surrender’ scheme because it carries a negativeconnotation. There are a few alternative names we are considering, one ofwhich is ‘Reintegration Scheme’,” a senior police officer said.
“We are working on a mechanism to reward those who bring back a militantfinancially and by giving them citations. The idea is to create publicgoodwill for those who want militancy in the Valley to end, to stop therecruitment of militants into these terror groups,” the officer added.
This aspect of the scheme has been inspired from the case of Majid Khan,who was part of the Lashkar-e-Toiba and surrendered to security forces.Khan’s was a high profile surrender. The aspiring footballer, who joinedthe Lashkar-e-Toiba and picked up the gun in November, shunned militancyfollowing a successful social media campaign appealing for his return.
Following his surrender, the LeT also issued a statement saying it had”allowed” Khan to return for the larger good, to tend to his ailing parents.
But checks and balances will be put in place to prevent abuse of thepolicy. A senior Home Ministry officer said they had received reports ofabuse of a similar policy in Naxal-affected Bastar in Chhattisgarh.