Eight terrorists who had been missing for years were captured in Jammu

A police officer said on Thursday that eight fugitive terrorists were apprehended in this area as a result of a special search by the State Investigation Agency and the Criminal Investigation Department for assassins and terrorist associates hiding out in the community.

The eight terrorists sought in Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act cases have been captured after roughly three decades, according to the official, thanks to information provided by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

In order to fulfill its bigger goal and mission of attaining “zero terrorism” in Jammu and Kashmir, SIA has started a specific push to find and bring all fugitives in terrorist-related matters before the relevant court.

According to the source, SIA has so far confirmed and identified 369 of the total 734 absconders—including 417 in Kashmir and 317 in Jammu—wanted in 327 TADA and Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) cases. Of these absconders, 215 are from Jammu and 154 are from Kashmir.

Of the 369 documented absconders, he said that 80 have passed away, 45 are living in Pakistan or the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), among other places, 127 are still unaccounted for, and four are imprisoned.

The eight people who eluded capture were charged in TADA charges that were filed at the TADA Court in Jammu thirty years ago and were engaged in terrorism and disruptive activities, according to the official. The cases were filed in various Doda district police stations.

He said that they went underground for decades in order to avoid the law’s reach before emerging to resume regular family life in their hometown or other remote locations.

According to the official, some of these fugitives were able to enter the government sector and get contracts, while others found work in the private sector or even in the legal system.

Adil Farooq Faridi of Jammu, a government employee currently assigned to the Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education, Ishfaq Ahmed, a writer who was employed by the Doda court complex, Mohd Iqbal, Mujahid Hussain, Tariq Hussain, Ishtiaq Ahmed Dev, Ajaz Ahmed, and Jameel Ahmed are among those who have been detained.

According to the official, they would appear before the TADA/POTA court in Jammu in response to warrants issued against them. He said that between 1991 and 1993, the terrorists who had been detained had committed a number of terrorist acts, including murders, kidnappings for ransom, inciting people to violence by fabricating stories during prayer services, and atrocities committed under duress.

Following the discovery of a large stockpile of weapons and ammunition in the Shambaz neighborhood of Doda on June 22, 1994, they were also included in a FIR. The official said that the SIA would also look into how these terrorist fugitives from justice were able to avoid capture for such a long time and lead regular lives.