A minor mis-understanding between the army and the police over use of different weapons helped seven holed up Lashkar militants escape the security forces’ cordon that lasted for seven days around a densely forested ravine in Kathua district. Sounds incredible, but the holed up militants reportedly took advantage of the situation and escaped, knowing fully well that the police and CRPF personnel holding cordon on the side of Ujh tributary, will not open fire on them under any circumstances. J-K cracks whip, Hurriyat hawk held for hawala SRINAGAR: In what seems to be a manifestation of the state government’s intention to crack down on hawks in Hurriyat after the recent split damaged all possibilities of a dialogue, Nayeem Khan — leader of National Front and a general council member of the conglomerate — was arrested today for allegedly carrying hawala money. Police claimed that Khan — who recently joined the Syed Ali Shah Geelani camp to overthrow Abbas Ansari as Hurriyat chief and re-establish the writ of the hawks on Hurriyat — was nabbed with Rs 9 lakh from Hyderpora chowk. Khan was taken to the Special Operations Group headquarters for questioning and a case has been registered at Sadar Police Station. The incident took place on a day when Mirwaiz Umar Farooq — a senior Hurriyat leader and former chairman who is with the Ansari-led moderate camp — recieved a phone call from the United States enquiring about the recent developments within the conglomerate. — ENS Sources said that after having failed to sight militants even after three days, the troops came under pressure and started feeling that the militants were either dead or they might have slipped much before their arrival. Moreover, they also got the impression that they might be replying to fire by police mistaking it as that of holed up militants. To avoid confusion caused by the firing of gunshots by police and CRPF, a meeting took place between senior army and police officers on September 4. At the meeting, senior army officers suggested the police not to open fire along with the troops during night so that they can, from the sound of militants’ gun fire, locate their location. The SP, Kathua, S.K. Sinha, objected to it and even brought all types of weapons being used by police for testing so as to make the army officers understand that their gunfire sound different to those used by militants. However, as the troops insisted the police to stop fire under all circumstances, Sinha directed all the cops to hold fire. Similar direction was conveyed to CRPF personnel on wireless sets. The holed up militants, who appear to be monitoring the wireless communication of security forces and the police, took advantage of the situation and managed to escape that night, sources said.
