| Submit your comments on this article |
| India-Pakistan |
| Pakistani family makes abortive bid to cross LoC |
| 2011-08-28 |
| A group of civilians, including women and children, made an unsuccessful bid to cross over to Nowshera on this side of the Line of Control (LoC) from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on Saturday morning, but their attempt was foiled by the Army troops. Senior Army officers said that nearly a dozen civilians were seen coming over to Laam (Nowshera) on this side from across the LoC around 11 am. As they were unarmed, the troops did not open fire. However, when they reached the forward Indian post on the LoC, they were stopped by the troops. The civilians insisted on crossing over to this side, saying they belonged to the state and had inadvertently crossed over to PoK long ago. However, the troops did not agree and asked them to return to PoK. The drama continued for nearly two hours, and the civilians went back to PoK in the afternoon. According to the police, the civilians who tried to cross over were Mohammad Ayub, his wife and seven children. The family was accompanied by one more person identified as Abdul Qayoom. While Ayub had crossed over to PoK from Rajouri district in 1965, Qayoom went there in 2004. The latter was wanted by the police on charges of crossing the border, a senior police officer said. Ever since the formulation of a policy by the Omar Abdullah government for rehabilitation of Kashmiri youth who wanted to return home from Pakistan and PoK, this has not been the first time that a family had tried to cross over. Early this year, a couple along with four children had crossed over to Poonch from PoK. The family was handed over to the state police by the Army troops. However, apprehending that more families may try to return to the state by crossing the LoC, the senior Army authorities decided not to allow anybody to cross over from anywhere other than the crossing points identified by the government. |
| Posted by:John Frum |