NC's adjournment motion on Hizb militant disallowed

The ruling National Conference Monday brought an adjournment motion in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly to discuss and debate the issue of the arrest, by Delhi Police, of militant Liyaqat Ali Shah. The speaker disallowed the motion.

The adjournment motion was moved by the National Conference's provincial president Nasir Aslam Wani and three others of his party, seeking a discussion on the subject of why a Kashmiri was being targeted, particularly when he was on his way home to surrender to police.

Speaker Mubarak Gul, however, disallowed the adjournment motion, saying that since Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has already taken up the matter with union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde and sought a probe into the whole affair by the National Investigation Agency, the adjournment motion did not hold water.

There are two conflicting versions on the arrest of Liyakat Ali Shah, a militant of the Hizb-ul-Mujahadeen. While Delhi Police believe he was part of a terrorist plot aimed at striking in the union capital, Jammu and Kashmir Police say he was on his way back home from Pakistan to surrender, under the rehabilitation policy of the government.

The rehabilitation policy, announced by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in 2010, is meant to encourage those militants wishing to return to the mainstream from Pakistan-administered Kashmir to lay down arms and return to their families.

The surrendered militants, however, will continue to be tried by the courts if cases are pending against them.