Two Kashmir families arrested on return from Pakistan

Members of two families in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district, who had returned to their homes from Pakistan-administered Kashmir after 27 years Monday, have been taken into custody for questioning, police said.

"Two brothers had crossed over to Pakistan-administered Kashmir from Mendhar sector of the line of control (LoC) in Poonch district along with their families in 1987.

"The two families comprising 16 members had crossed back to India through Nepal recently and they were taken into custody yesterday (Monday) after they reached their ancestral village, Jaglanu in Rajouri district," a senior police officer told IANS here.

The official said the two families have been lodged in Kandi police station in Rajouri and are being questioned.

Many locals who had crossed over to Pakistan-administered Kashmir either for obtaining training in firearms or for other reasons have returned back to their home and hearth in Jammu and Kashmir after the state government announced its rehabilitation policy for those persons who choose to return back after abjuring violence.

Such persons have usually been choosing the Nepal route to enter India so that they can return back to their homes in the state.

Before such people are allowed to resume normal activities of life, police and intelligence agencies take them in for questioning to ensure that their return is bona fide and not part of any subversive plan.

Following arrests of some of the returning people in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, the state government has written to the central government so that the rehabilitation policy is implemented in letter and spirit without discouraging those who decide to abjure violence and return back to the state.