Four Sopore teenagers try to cross border, detained

Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, September 1

Indicating that more youths are willing to take up arms, a group of four teenagers from the volatile Sopore area in north Kashmir were detained in frontier district of Kupwara today while attempting to cross the Line of Control for arms training in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

Identified as  Adil Ahmed, Ishfaq, Tahir and Aijaz, residents of Rather Mohalla at Krankshiwan in Sopore, 45 km from here, they are in the age group of 17 to 19 years. They were detained by the Army’s 6 Rashtriya Rifles in Kupwara district on Monday.

“They were moving in the Vilgam area in suspicious circumstances when an Army’s patrol party noticed them. They were questioned and discrepancies were found in their statements,” defence sources said.

“The four teenagers were detained and during questioning, they disclosed that they were headed to Pakistan for arms training. They were later handed over to the police,” they added.

The four teenagers were not accompanied by any guide when they were detained. This is the first group of local youths intercepted and detained this year while attempting to cross into PoK for arms training.

A senior police officer in north Kashmir confirmed that four teenagers from Sopore were detained while attempting to exfiltrate into PoK.

“They told us that they left their homes on Sunday for a picnic, but headed to Kupwara. The same day, they moved to the Vilgam area and headed to Hafruda forests,” he said.

“Due to heavy rain and a windstorm, they stayed in the forests. During the day, they headed back to Vilgam when Army men noticed them,” he said.

“We are gathering details of the four teenagers. As of now, they have no links with militancy in the town. They are all students,” he added. The police said the teenagers were being counselled by the police. In July, there were reports in the local media that students from an Army Goodwill School in Kupwara district was intercepted by soldiers when they tried to cross the LoC. The report was vehemently denied by the police.

The trend of going for arms training to PoK had declined over a period of time. This year, over 40 local youths had joined militancy and none among them went to PoK for arms training, the police said. The youths were trained locally by militant commanders.