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Twenty-one members of the Hizbul Mujahideen surrendered before the civil administration and army in Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday morning.
Army sources said the 21 were "active and hardcore" and their surrender was a clear indicator of the "divide" between the Kashmiri and foreign militants.
"Since the influx of Pakistani terrorists into Jammu and Kashmir, reports of tensions between the Pakistani terrorists and local militants had been appearing from time to time," an army officer said in New Delhi.
"This has been corroborated" by the surrendered militants, he said.
The militants said they were giving up arms because of the harassment that they and Kashmiri locals were facing from foreign terrorists, the army claimed.
They also admitted that the high level of civilian casualty in attacks by foreign terrorists was a worrying factor.
In this regard, the militants mentioned the October 1, 2001, attack on the state assembly, in which over 30 civilians were killed, said an army officer.
The expulsion of Abdul Majid Dar, who was till recently the chief commander of the Hizb in the valley, was another reason behind their surrender, the army said.
According to information from Kupwara, the militants told the local administration that the expulsion of Dar and his associates had convinced them that the Kashmiri movement was now being remote-controlled by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence.
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