150 militants, separatists shifted from J&K jails to outside prisons

There are reports that jails in Jammu and Kashmir had become a potential breeding ground for radicalisation

In the backdrop of reports that militants, especially Pakistanis, lodged in different jails in Jammu and Kashmir were said to have direct contact with terror groups outside prisons, authorities have shifted 150 detainees to prisons in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and New Delhi.

The decision was taken by prison authorities after the reports that jails in Jammu and Kashmir had become a potential breeding ground for radicalisation.

“The sermons on jihad continue in most of the prisons within the Union Territory. Such religious sermons have a deep psychological impact on young inmates who develop an inclination towards joining militancy or getting recruited as over-ground workers for terrorists,” sources said.

A majority of the militants shifted from Jammu and Kashmir was lodged in high-security Kot-Bhalwal jail under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

“The jail authorities outside have been asked to segregate Pakistani and Kashmiri militants. Even within the jails of J&K, strict instructions have been issued to segregate the militants and effectively ensure that they don’t get access to any mode of communication, including mobile phones in the prisons,” they said.

In the last few years, jail authorities and police have seized dozens of mobile phones and SIM cards from the possession of detainees, including Pakistani and Kashmiri militants in Kot-Bhalwal jail. In 2018, an intelligence report had revealed that nearly 300 mobile phones were operational within Srinagar Central jail premises which had become a den for the radicalisation of youths lodged for petty crimes.

Earlier, the Union Home Ministry had asked States and Union Territories (UT) to check radicalisation of detainees inside the jails and take steps to ensure that prisons are not misused by the militants to carry out their networks from inside.

A senior officer of the J&K prison department said that the shifting of detainees, including militants and separatists, is an ongoing process. “In the recent years hundreds of hardcore terrorists, separatists and Public Safety Act (PSA) detainees have been shifted from J&K jails to outside state prisons after reports that some of them were in touch with terrorists outside,” he said.

The officer said mainly those militants and separatists are shifted to outside jails who could radicalize ordinary criminals in the prisons or those who could instigate subversive activities from inside the jails using mobile phones and social media.

Recently, police came across a case in which a Pakistani militant was facilitating the movement of drones from across the border to Jammu in which arms, ammunition, explosives and narcotics were being smuggled. He was taken to the International Border in Arnia and Phallain Mandal, where he was reportedly injured while trying to escape and later succumbed to the injuries.