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'I'll shoot them for misguiding me in the name of Islam'

"The call for jihad by the Inter Services Intelligence in Jammu and Kashmir is totally fraud. If I meet them again I will shoot them for misguiding me in the name of Islam.''

These are the words of Abdul Nasir Khan Rathore alias Jabran Khan, pushed into the state by the Pakistani agency to carry subversive activities.

A resident of Kahuta, Haveli district, in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, he realised within nine months that there was no danger to Islam in the state.

Nasir Khan is one of the seven militants who surrendered on Friday in Jammu before Major General Bhupinder Singh, general officer commanding, Tiger division.

Twelve hard-core militants had surrendered on Thursday in Doda. With that, the number of militants who joined the mainstream last year touched 203.

Nasir Khan used to run an export-import business back home and was well off. "Four years ago I was contacted by some Islamic activists who misguided me in the name of jihad. They told me that Islam is in danger in Jammu and Kashmir. They said Muslim women were not safe there. And I fell into their trap. I was trained by the ISI for subversive activities."

He infiltrated into India on the night of November 15, 1998. His mission was to set up base in Jammu and recruit youths for militancy.

"On arriving here my impression changed. The statements by the ISI about Kashmir were not at all true. So I preferred to leave the path of violence," he said.

Maj Gen Bhupinder Singh said such surrenders are the beginning of the end of militancy in the state.

UNI

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