Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Nov 6: Police today arrested a Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militant, his Pakistani wife and two children at Thanna Mandi bridge when they were heading towards Pangai in Thanna Mandi area of Rajouri district. The militant had taken the route of Karachi-Kathmandu-Bihar-Jammu to reach Rajouri.
The militant and his wife have been arrested while the children were handed over to their family members.
SSP Rajouri Mubassir Latifi told the Excelsior that Showkat Ali (code name Walid), 24, son of Mohammad Sharief R/o Pangai, Thanna Mandi and his Pakistani wife Hameeda Kousar, 20, a resident of Mirpur in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) were arrested at Thanna Mandi bridge in Rajouri district early this morning when they were heading towards Pangai along with their two children Khalid Walid, 4 years and Omar Walid, 9 months.
Mr Latifi said police subjected the militant to interrogation during which he admitted his involvement in militancy before crossing over to PoK for arms training in January, 2003 when he was 15 years old. Some local commanders of the LeT outfit had lured him into militancy.
Showkat Ali had undergone arms training at Murid Ke in PoK for several months. Later he married PoK girl Hameeda Kousar and settled with her. He was doing manual work to run the livelihood.
Police said the missing report of Showkat Ali had been registered on January 18, 2003. On August 23, 2012, the family of Walid had applied for his return under Rehabilitation Policy of the Government. Last month, Walid along with his wife and two children had tried to infiltrate into this side from the Line of Control (LoC) in Mendhar sector of Poonch district but was not allowed by the Army as he was taking illegal route not specified under the Rehabilitation Policy.
Later, the militant along with his family took flight from Karachi to Kathmandu in Nepal and entered Bihar from where they reached Jammu in a train. From Jammu, they were on their way to their house at Pangai when police nabbed them at Thanna Mandi bridge.
Police said a case under 2/3 Ingression Internal Movement Control Ordinance IIMCO had already been registered against Showkat Ali. The case had been challaned in the court of law. The court had issued warrant against Walid under Section 512 RPC.
Now, police have registered a fresh case against Walid and his wife under Section 3 of Indian Passport Act and 3/14 Foreigners Act for further investigations.
Under Rehabilitation Policy, only a militant, whose case has been approved for return, can come back from Poonch-Rawlakote and Uri-Muzaffarabad routes in Jammu and Kashmir, Wagah border in Amritsar district of Punjab and Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport, New Delhi.
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