2 terror recruits lay down arms after a midnight appeal by parents

At the crack of dawn, Nadeem and Kafeel walked out of their hideout and surrendered to the police after a night of appeals and cajoling by their parents, marking a rare occasion when such calls worked.

Night had fallen on the remote village of Qaimoh in south Kashmir’s restive Kulgam district when Mohammad Abbas received a message that made his heart sink. His son, Nadeem, had gone missing about a week ago but the missive from the police told him that the 24-year-old man, along with his neighbour Kafeel Ahmad Mir, was holed up in a house 20 miles away, exchanging gunfire with security forces. Only two eventualities awaited the vastly outnumbered young men: Surrender or face near-certain death.

A parent requests his to drop weapons and surrender, during an encounter at Hadigam area of Kulgam, Kashmir. (ANI)

Such encounters are common in Kashmir, where groups of young men often leave homes to get radicalised to become armed militants who target security forces and civilian establishments. Most of their lives end in a hail of government bullets. But not on Wednesday -- because of two sets of parents determined to make their children listen to reason.

At the crack of dawn, Nadeem and Kafeel walked out of their hideout and surrendered to the police after a night of appeals and cajoling by their parents, marking a rare occasion when such calls worked.

“I told my son that along with his mother they are now going to consume poison.... I think that trick worked,” said Abbas, praising the efforts of the officials present on the spot. “They officials saved the lives of our children.”

This is the first surrender of newly recruited militants this year during an encounter in Kashmir. Last year, 16 militants were arrested after joining militant ranks and four to five were arrested during the encounters after they surrendered and deserted their weapons.

“The families of both terrorists were brought to the encounter site to appeal for their surrender. Repeated surrender appeals were made by the parents and security forces till morning. Both terrorists finally surrendered by laying down their arms in the morning,” said army spokesman Emron Musavi.

Past midnight on Wednesday, Abbas and his wife, Jameela, reached Hadigam village. The guns had fallen silent, but the shopkeeper could see that forces had the house surrounded. “I requested my son and other person to surrender through a public address system. Even Nadeem’s mother made several appeals to him. But to no avail,” he said.

Nadeem’s mother Jameela also used the public address system to ask him to surrender. “Nadeem, I am your mother, If you have done something wrong, I will seek pardon from the officers. Senior superintendent of police and commanding officer, who are here with us, are asking you to come out and surrender,” she said. Similar pleas were made by Kafeel’s father Javeed Ahmad.

With time running out and it clear that the forces were planning for a final assault on the house, Abbas made a last-ditch attempt. “Along with my wife, I went inside the house,” he said.

The couple found the young men holding pistols and a grenade, looking disturbed. “Along with my wife, we requested them to come out and their lives will get saved. First they refused and asked us to go back. For me it was a setback because their refusal was their death sentence,” Abbas said.

He was discouraged, and thought all had been lost. “I thought about snatching the pistol of my son to save his life, but couldn’t do that and left the house, my wife dejected thinking their death is now closer,” he said.

But a twist was in store.

“As I reached halfway, a police officer told me that they have now decided surrender, and I couldn’t hide my emotions” said Abbas. It was 5 am.

Both the men are now in the police custody.

Army and police said both of them were recruited by terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba recently to carry out attacks in south Kashmir.

As neighbours, Nadeem and Mir knew each other. Nadeem is a Class 12 drop-out who ran an embroidery shop at Wanpoh. Mir ran a small farming business, and was a Class 12 student. According to their families they had no adverse records.

Officials privy to information said the two were “hybrid militants” and had joined the militant ranks recently. “They hailed from same village that’s on the border of Kulgam and Anantnag districts. And the duo came in touch with some local Lashkar militants who encouraged them to join militancy. This is a big sucess for forces as usually the newly recruited militants in south Kashmir dont surrender due to brainwashing,” said an officer with knowledge of developments.

Masuvi said that based on specific inputs from police about the presence of unidentified terrorists in Hadigam, a joint cordon and search operation was launched on Tuesday night. “Search of the suspected houses commenced at 2:30am, during which the terrorists opened fire on the forces from inside the house. At the same time it was ascertained that both terrorists were newly recruited local youth and their families were desperate to get them back into the mainstream,” he said.

Former chief minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti thanked the security forces. “Two lives saved thanks to the efforts of their families & the support extended by security forces. These kind of efforts must be continued so that youngsters who join militancy are given a second chance to live their lives,” tweeted Mufti.