A proposal of the J&K government under former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to legalise the Nepal route to enable return of former militants who had crossed over to Pakistan, has been scrapped by the Centre. The proposal had also been endorsed by the current J&K government led by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti.
The route, though not designated as such, had been used in the past by former Kashmiri militants to return. Informally it was given a go-ahead by the J&K administration.
In 2010, the then J&K government announced a rehabilitation policy for former Kashmiri militants, who had crossed over to Pakistan from 1989-2009. As per the policy, four points were designated for return of militants — Wagah-Attari, Salambad, Chakan Da Bagh, and Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport.
The J&K police have a list of over 4,000 local men who crossed over to Pakistan and of 377 former militants along with 864 family members who returned via the Nepal route since 2010. Only a few former militants returned via the Nepal route in the past three years.
On Saturday, Naseer Ahmed, a former Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist who had crossed over to Pakistan in 2003, was detained by the Sashastra Seema Bal from Sanauli in Uttar Pradesh along the Nepal border. The SSB said Ahmed sneaked in posing as a Kashmiri shawl vendor with a “motive to carry out terrorist activities in India”.
On Sunday, Mr. Abdullah tweeted that Ahmed was “probably attempting to return home using the now discontinued rehabilitation policy. He should have known better”.
The Home Ministry had been examining the proposal to legalise the Nepal route after an uproar over the arrest of a former HuM militant Liyaqat Shah when he was returning with his family. Shah was arrested by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police and falsely implicated in a terror case with weapons planted on him.
After the J&K government clarified that he was returning with their knowledge, the NIA was asked to probe the case and Shah was given a clean chit.
Route could be misused
On Monday a senior Home Ministry official said, “We have scrapped the plan to legalise the Nepal route. Since the former militants reach Nepal on a fake passport and fake documents, we cannot allow them into India.
Since they cannot be deported, they are taken into custody. They don’t return from the four designated points of return as they crossed over to Pakistan illegally and face threat from terrorist outfits.”
The official said that since India and Nepal have a no-visa regime, the route could be misused by Pakistan to push in active militants in the guise of former militants and vetting was not possible.
