Abducted Kashmiri villagers rescued

Both of them, Ghulam Mohammad and Ghulam Hassan were members of the village defence committee (VDC).

Two villagers abducted by terrorists four days ago were rescued by police in Jammu and Kashmir's Doda district early on Wednesday.

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Both of them, Ghulam Mohammad and Ghulam Hassan of Gundana village in the district, about 200 kms northeast of Jammu, were members of the village defence committee (VDC). They were rescued from a hideout of terrorists in the village at around 3.00 am.

Their abductors, however, escaped when police reached the hideout.

Hassan and Mohammad were among four VDC members abducted on Oct 14. However, strong protests and the formation of a human chain by local Muslim women resulted in the release of the other two—Ram Lal and Shadi Lal.

The gesture was hailed as an unprecedented show of communal harmony in the Muslim majority district.

The rescue of the two villagers on Wednesday was a "meticulously planned operation", Manohar Singh, senior superintendent of police (Doda), said.