Omar seeks NIA probe in arrest of 'militant'

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Saturday discussed the controversial arrest of alleged militant Syed Liyaqat Shah with Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde.

Liyaqat was arrested by the Delhi police while he was returning from Pakistan to surrender before the Jammu and Kashmir police under the rehabilitation policy of the state government for militants.

He had arrived in Nepal on a Pakistani passport. He was arrested by the Delhi police in Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh.

The police claimed that he had planned a terror strike in Delhi on the eve of Holi.

Abdullah sought a probe by the National Investigation Agency in a time-bound manner to establish the facts.

The family of Liyaqat claimed that he had returned from Pakistan after the family’s application for his return and subsequent surrender had been approved by the state authorities.

“My husband was returning under the state government’s rehabilitation policy via Nepal. There was no question of Liyaqat carrying any weapons with him,” said Amina Begum.

She added, “My husband was picked up by some unidentified gunmen nearly 15 years ago, six years after our marriage. After a few years, we received a letter from him, saying that he was working as a labourer in Mansehra in Pakistan”.

The family said that they had filed an application with the authorities in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district, requesting that Liyaqat be allowed to return home under the state government’s rehabilitation policy.

“The authorities accepted our request. They advised us that Liyaqat should return to India via Nepal. They also said they would help him join his family in Jindiyala village of Kupwara district,” she said.

“We were shocked to learn that he had been arrested by the Delhi police with weapons. There is no question of my husband returning with weapons,” she added.

The policy for the return of the militants from Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir was a major decision by Omar Abdullah, which he announced immediately after taking over as the chief minister of the state in January 2009.

Under the policy, the parents of the youth apply to the district police chiefs of their respective districts, certifying that ‘their wards want to return and live a normal life’.

The district police chiefs then go through these applications and issue orders after clearance from various concerned agencies.