New Delhi, Oct 30: In a significant development, 19 hardcore militants, including three Lashker-e-Toiba (LeT) men, surrendered to security forces over the past 24 hours in Surankote and Baramulla regions of Jammu and Kashmir.
Seventeen of them surrendered before Lt Gen T P S Brar, GOC, 16 Corps at Surankote in Poonch district in Jammu region, while two others surrendered at Baramulla along with huge quantity of arms and ammunition, army sources said here today.
What took the security forces by surprise was that the surrendered militants included ultras from LeT, Jaish-e- Mohammed (JeM), Harkat-ul-Jihad-Islami and newly floated Kashmir Freedom Movement (KFM), whose members normally do not give up without fighting to the last.
This is for the first time in two years that such surrenders are taking place in Jammu and Kashmir. Significantly, they come at a time when the state government is putting in place a comprehensive surrender package which will include giving a heavy lumpsum for rehabilitation of the militants.
Bureau Report