Top pro-Pak militant escapes custody

Srinagar, Feb 2: A top militant of pro-Pakistan Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen (JUM), whose release had been sought by the Indian Airlines plane hij...

Srinagar, Feb 2: A top militant of pro-Pakistan Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen (JUM), whose release had been sought by the Indian Airlines plane hijackers, escaped today after giving a slip to police escorting him to a government hospital for medical check-up here.

Ghulam Rasool Shah, code-named Mohammad Ramzan Sofi, alias General Abdullah, former supreme commander of the Jamiat-ul-Muhajideen, along with four other top detenues were taken to Srinagar’s SMHS hospital where he managed to give the slip to the policemen escorting them, an official spokesman told Press Trust of India.

Jameel Ahmad Syed, another top militant associated with the Al-Burq outfit, also tried to escape but was arrested by the police from the compound of nearby medical college, the spokesman said.

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However, Shah, a resident of frontier district of Kupwara, arrested by the security forces in 1997 from Srinagar, mingled with the crowd in the hospital and made good his escape in a waiting three-wheeler, he said.The five detenues lodged in Srinagar central jail were being taken to SMHS hospital for a routine medical check-up, the spokesman added.

The spokesman said that all security and intelligence agencies were alerted and a hunt had been launched to nab the escapee.

Security had also been beefed up in the hospital and all incoming and outgoing visitors were being frisked.

Meanwhile, a spokesman of Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen contacted news organisations in Srinagar immediately after the incident and claimed that their "detained supreme commander" (Shah) was arrested by the Border Security Force soon after he was taken to the government hospital for medical check-up.

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