NEW DELHI, Feb 11: In a big confidence building measure for Jammu and Kashmir, the central government has accepted the state’s proposal of amnesty to Kashmiri militants in Pakistan who want to return home without weapons and want to join the mainstream, Home Minister P Chidambaram said on Thursday.
“The idea of granting amnesty to Kashmiri youth in PoK (Pakistan-occupied Kashmir) has been accepted. The idea must be translated into action now,” Chidambaram told reporters here.
The Home Minister said that the government was now considering how to carry out the process of their return which involves many points to be looked into. “There are many points for their travel back. Like identification, debriefing, rehabilitation and reintegration into the system,” he said.
The announcement will bring cheer to hundreds of families in the Kashmir Valley and other Muslim-dominated areas in Jammu region whose male members had crossed over to Pakistan-administered Kashmir for arms training in the early 1990s and were now willing to return without weapons. In Pakistani Kashmir they are living in pathetic conditions, doing petty jobs, many of them even begging, according to people who visit the area. They are craving to return home if government gives them amnesty but are fearing legal action in India.
