The Hindu : Terrorists recruiting tribal children

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 01, 2004

National

National

Terrorists recruiting tribal children

By Luv Puri

UDHAMPUR (JAMMU), JAN. 31. Terrorists are increasingly resorting to recruitment of children belonging to all age groups in the hills of Udhampur and are using them for their operations against the security forces. Most of these children belong to the nomadic tribes of Gujjars and Bakerwals who live in the high reaches of the Pir Panjal and are soft targets for forcible recruitment by the terrorists.

A series of chance recoveries of missing boys by the security forces recently showed that the terrorists now preferred to recruit younger children.

The pathetic tale of nine-year-old Abdul Gafoor, who was the latest victim of forcible recruitment by the Hizb-ul Mujahideen, sheds light on the changing trends of terrorism in the heights of Pir Panjal.

Abdul Gafoor, presently in the protection of the Jammu and Kashmir police in Reasi, told The Hindu the sordid tale of his being caught and rescued.

About six months ago, Gafoor's father, Saki Mohammad, was killed by terrorists for his alleged links with the Army and his mother, Malika, was kidnapped. Nothing has been heard about her since.

On September 15 last year, Abdul Gafoor, who has passed second standard, was kidnapped by terrorists from his residence at Parankot in Udhampur. Gafoor roamed with the Hizb militants in the thick forests of Pakikot, Narla and Larki in the hilly belt of Udhampur.

Gafoor says, "The first two months, I was made to wash utensils and carry the load of the terrorists as they moved from one village to another. Then I was trained in the use of AK-47 rifles and later on to handle explosives."

The boy was also taught how to use a radio set and sometimes, he was told to go near the security installations and inform them about the strength of the security forces.

Last month, the boy had a narrow escape when terrorists launched an attack on an Army patrol party in Poni area.

The security forces returned the fire, in which a terrorist was injured. Gafoor, along with the terrorists, managed to escape.

Though the terrorists watched the movements of Gafoor, he managed to escape from their hideout a week ago when they were sleeping. The boy was spotted by a police party at Thuv Thanol forest belt in Reasi.

The State Director-General of Police, Gopal Sharma, told The Hindu that the police were keeping a close watch on these developments.

"We have started search operations to recover the innocent children who have been forcibly recruited. We will not register any case against these boys even if they know how to handle weapons as it was obviously under compulsion.

The boys are not ideologically committed to the terror outfits but are only forced recruits. The children would be returned to the parents and we would soon work out a rehabilitation policy for them."

However, this is not the end of travails for Gafoor. His grandfather, the only earning member in the family died while he was away. Now the only relative left in the world is his aged grandmother.

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