'Many Kashmiri youths getting training in PoK'

Thousands of misguided Kashmiri youth have been receiving training in different militant training camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, says an arrested Hizbul Mujahideen militant.

A report in Early Times says Mohammad Ashraf, a Hizbul Mujahideen trainer, was arrested by the Army from the fencing at Sawjian in Poonch along with his wife Asima.

Ashraf (24) and Asima (22) were produced in the court of chief judicial magistrate (CJM), Poonch, who sent them to seven days police custody.

At the Poonch police station, Ashraf told reporters that thousands of misguided Kashmiri youth were undergoing training. Many, the report said, wanted to return homes and lead a peaceful life, but scared of the Pak Army and Inter-Services Intelligence.

Ashraf said neither he nor other Kashmiri militants in PoK camps had any knowledge of the state government's proposed Rehabilitation Policy for them.  He said he had crossed over to PoK along with 25 other Kashmiri youth somewhere from Poonch in 1999 when he was 13.

He confessed to have received training at a militant training camp in Kacharban, PoK. Ashraf said he had also trained several militants in the Kacharban camp. Asima, who hails from Khacharban, PoK, had decided to travel with him to India. Both had married after a love affair.

Asima, the report says, that she knew about her husband's involvement in militancy. "I have decided to spend life with him," she added. Both of them were apprehended by troops of 40 Rashtriya Rifles, the report said.