The Mehbooba Mufti led coalition Government in Jammu & Kashmir has taken a tough decision to forfeit movable and immovable property of a civilian who allegedly harboured three lashkar-e-Tayyeba (leT) terrorists at his house in south Kashmir’s Bijbehara area. The three militants were killed by security forces in a 42-hour fierce gun-battle on Friday and the residential house was razed to smithereens.
This is the first time during the current regime that the authorities have initiated procedures to forfeit property of an alleged militant harbourer. The move is seen as a strong message to dissuade people from offering shelter to militants.
Sources said that police have initiated process to forfeit the now-demolished residential house and land belonging to one Mushtaq Ahmed Ganai of Hussanpora village in Arwani pocket of south Kashmir and freeze his bank accounts. The matter has been taken up with the revenue authorities and the bank officials.
Ganai’s house was zeroed in on December 7 following a specific input that three leT militants were hiding there. Police said Ganai was an over-ground worker (OGW) of the leT outfit.
A south Kashmir based police officer said that Ganai has gone into hiding and a lookout has been ordered to nab him. “We have requested the bank authorities to freeze his accounts while the revenue authorities have been approached for the attachment of his immovable property including the house and land,” he said.
"According to our reports, Ganai offered shelter to the leT militants at his house and was providing all logistic support to them,” he said.
This is for the first time during the PDP-BJP coalition that a harsh step has been taken to forfeit property of an alleged militant harbourer.
Earlier, in 2002 during Farooq Abdullah’s rule, a
residential house was sealed off in old Srinagar under Prevention of Terrorist Activities ACT (POTA) for the house-owner’s alleged links with militants.
A senior separatist leader Ghulam Mohammad Sopori’s house was also attached in uptown Srinagar during Omar Abdullah’s regime.
The locals say that militants barge into their homes on gunpoint and seek shelter. They say that security forces destroy the houses during the encounter.