21 militants surrender in Kashmir
AFP [ SATURDAY, JUNE 01, 2002 6:13:02 PM ]
SRINAGAR: Twenty-one militants surrendered in Kashmir on Saturday, and handed over their arms and ammunition, an army spokesman said.
Sixteen of the militants belonged to Kashmir's dominant separatist group Hizbul Mujahideen, he said. The rebels surrendered their weapons to the deputy commissioner of northern Kupwara district, Syed Haque Nawaz and senior police and army officers in the town of Kupwara, 100 km north of Srinagar.
"All sixteen Hizbul militants belonged to one battalion," Nawaz said, adding that the surrender marked the first time since the eruption of armed insurgency in 1989 that an entire battalion of any group has surrendered. The five other militants who gave themselves up belonged to other groups active in Kashmir.
Nawaz said all the 21 militants were local Kashmiris. The batallion commander, who gave his name only as Tanveer, said the group was disillusioned with the "ongoing violence in Kashmir." "We surrendered because we want peace to return," said Tanveer, adding they had been running from one forest to another in search of hide-outs and food.
"We want to live a normal life," he said. The militants surrendered 20 AK-47 rifles, two rocket launchers, one machine gun and some grenades and rockets.