Two militants were arrested from Handwara area of north Kashmir’s Kupwara district, a police spokesman said.
He said that acting on a specific information about the movement of the militants in the area, a joint team of Handwara Police, 21 RR and 92 bn CRPF laid a Naka (checkpost) at Bakihaker crossing.
During checking, two persons who were walking towards Bakihaker started running suspiciously after seeing the Naka from a distance. Security forces had kept another party in civvies at a distance who apprehended both of them.
On preliminary enquiry, they were identified as Younis Ahmed Mir (19) alias Sarfaraz, son of Bashir Ahmed Mir, resident of Sebdan Galwanpora in Budgam district and Tahir -ul-Islam (21) alias Sajad Afgani son of Bashir Ahmed, resident of Muloora Tawheedabad area of Shalteng in Srinagar district, the spokesman said.
They further disclosed that they had recently joined Harkat-ul-Mujahideen militant outfit and were tasked to create disturbances in Handwara by indulging in violent activities, the spokesman added.
He said that two Pistols, 02 hand grenades and other incriminating material was seized from their possession.
On sustained interrogation, both the militants revealed that most of the militant organizations based in Handwara and Kupwara region are facing problems on account of depleting number of local militants in the field.
They further revealed that the youth of the region are not ready to pick up the gun, despite a lot of efforts by the militant commanders based in Kashmir and PaK.
“The militant outfits had succeeded in recruiting some local boys in Kupwara region recently, but they either surrendered before Police, or were caught by security forces within a short span of time after joining militancy. It is because of this pressure upon the valley based commanders of militant outfits to disturb the peace and tranquility of the region that they are making efforts to recruit militants in other regions and bring them to Handwara for militant attacks,” the spokesman claimed.
Police has registered a case in this regard and further investigation were taken up, he added.

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