TeJ ultra travelled unchecked up to Surankote

* Nabbed with wife, 7 children

Sanjeev Pargal

TeJ militant Mukhtiar Ahmad along with his wife in Surankote on Tuesday.
TeJ militant Mukhtiar Ahmad along with his wife in Surankote on Tuesday.

JAMMU, May 20: Police today arrested a militant of Tehreek-e-Jehad along with his wife and seven children soon after they reached Surankote town in Poonch district from Pakistan after spending nearly 13 years in the neighbouring country, where he underwent arms training and participated in ‘jehad activities’.
Significantly, the militant after arms training of two years in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK), came back after two years in Surankote and again went back to PoK taking his wife along with him. Though most of the militants returning from Pakistan or PoK along with their wives and children are caught on Nepal border and handed over to Special Cell of Jammu and Kashmir Police by the SSB, the TeJ militant managed to give slip to the SSB at Nepal border and reached Surankote this morning along with his family.
SSP Poonch Shamsheer Hussain identified the arrested militant as Mukhtiar Ahmad, 33, son of Mitha, a resident of village Hari, Surankote and his wife as Shamim Akhter, a resident of the same village.
Police parties from Surankote headed by SDPO Ajay Sharma intercepted the militant and his family near Surankote town after developing specific information about return of the militant with his family and apprehended them. Police arrested the couple but handed over their seven children to the family of Mukhtiar on ‘supardnama’.
Police said questioning of the militant and his wife revealed that Mukhtiar had joined militancy in 2000 as Tehreek-e-Jehad and soon became its commander. He crossed over to PoK in 2001 from Sabjian sector in Poonch district and underwent arms training at various camps. He returned to Poonch from the same sector in 2003 and stayed at Surankote for sometime before returning to PoK along with his wife Shamim Akhter.
Sources said apart from carrying out subversive activities, the militant was also working as preacher and had seven children from his wife with whom he came back to Surankote today. The children have been identified as Rubina, 11, Tahir Mukhtiar, 10, Zahir Mukhtiar, 9, Saima, 8, Danish Mukhtiar, 7, Azmal Mukhtiar, 6 and Akman Mukhtiar.
According to sources, Mukhtiar Ahmad along with his family flew to Kathmandu from Karachi and then reached Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh in UPSRTC bus. He boarded Begumpura Express at Lucknow and reached Jammu yesterday. The militant along with his family reached Surankote from Pakistan unchecked and uninterrupted late last night and were arrested this morning.
Police said they were verifying activities of the militant and would accordingly impose Sections on him. A FIR has been registered against the couple at Surankote police station but their children were released to their family on ‘supardnama’.
It may be mentioned here that nearly 100 militants along with their family members have reached Jammu and Kashmir during past one and a half months from Nepal route. Though the Shastra Seema Bal (SSB) detained all of them at Nepal border and then handed over them to Special Cell of Delhi Police, it was for the first time this year that the militant with his family reached his home dodging SSB at Nepal and all other security agencies enroute.
Few days back, Railways Police had arrested a Hizbul Mujahideen militant Ravish-ul-Islam of Pulwama at Chakki Bank, Pathankot along with two pistols and ammunition. He was on way to Kashmir from Bihar after purchasing weapons.
The influx of militants and their family members from Pakistan and PoK had started after the announcement of Rehabilitation Policy by the State Government. However, none of the militants were taking four routes prescribed under the Policy.
The prescribed routes included Poonch-Rawlakote in Jammu, Uri-Muzaffarabad in Kashmir, Wagah border in Amritsar district of Punjab and Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi.