Srinagar: Eight “absconding terrorists” have been arrested here during a special drive by the State Investigation Agency and the Criminal Investigation Department that have started looking for “killers and terrorist associates hiding by blending in the society”, police said in a statement on Thursday.
Assisted by Criminal Investigation Department (CID) inputs, State Investigation Agency (SIA) detectives working quietly for months have apprehended the eight terrorists wanted in Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act cases after about three decades, police said.
In pursuance of its larger objective and the mandate of achieving “zero terrorism” in Jammu and Kashmir, SIA has initiated a special drive to trace and produce before the court concerned all absconders in terrorism-related cases.
Police said of the total 734 absconders, including 417 in Kashmir and 317 in Jammu, wanted in 327 TADA and the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) cases, SIA has so far verified and identified 369 absconders — 215 in Jammu and 154 in Kashmir.
Of the 369 verified absconders, 80 have died, 45 are residing in Pakistan or Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and other countries, 127 remain untraced and four are in jails, police statement said.
The eight arrested absconders were involved in terrorism and disruptive activities and were booked in TADA cases registered three decades ago in different police stations of Doda district and charge-sheeted in the TADA Court Jammu, it said.
They managed to escape the clutches of the law for decades by going underground before resurfacing to enjoy normal family life at their native or some distant places, it said.
“Some of these absconders had managed to get into government services and bagged contracts, while others got engaged in private businesses and even in courts,” police said.
Those apprehended have been identified as Adil Farooq Faridi, son of Abdul Ghani Faridi of H No. 230 Shahidi Chowk Jammu (government employee presently posted in JK BOSE, Jammu); Mohammad Iqbal alias Javed, son of Sikander Khan of Asthan Mohalla Doda; Mujahid Hussain alias Nisar Ahmed, son of Abdul Rasheed Gathwan of Asthan Mohalla Doda ; Tariq Hussain, son of Ghulam Ali Misger of Barshalla Doda; Ishtiaq Ahmed Dev alias Ajaz, son of Mohammad Ayoub Dev of Shah Mohalla Doda; Ajaz Ahmed alias Mohammad Iqbal, son of Abdul Rehman of Dandi Bhaderwah; Jameel Ahmed alias Jugnu alias Chika Khan, son of Faiz Ahmed of Kursari Bhaderwah; and Ishfaq Ahmed, son of Ghulam Ahmed Sheikh, resident of Bun Doda (working as writer in Court Complex Doda).
They will be produced before the TADA/POTA court in Jammu in pursuance of warrants issued against them, police said.
Police said the “apprehended terrorists were involved in various terrorist activities including killings, kidnapping for ransom, instigating people for violence by setting false narratives during prayer meetings and atrocities at gunpoint between 1991 and 1993.”
They were also named in an FIR following the recovery of a huge cache of arms and ammunition in the Shambaz area of Doda on June 22, 1994.
Police said how these absconder terrorists managed to escape the law and live a normal life without being traced for so long will also be investigated by the SIA.
