Sumir Kaul
Srinagar
Nearly 100 Kashmiri youths, who travelled to Pakistan on valid visas for short durations, have either not returned or disappeared after their return in last 3 years, raising an alarm within security agencies who fear they could be possible sleeper cells of terror groups operating from across the border.
Alarm bells rang in April last year when a group of five terrorists were killed in jungles of the border area of Handwara in North Kashmir. One was a local who went to Pakistan in 2018 and had not returned since, officials from security agencies said. Between April 1 to 6, last year, youths hailing from Shopian, Kulgam and Anantnag districts of South Kashmir were seen as part of the infiltrating groups of terrorists and all had travelled to Pakistan on valid documents and never came back thereafter, they said.
Security agencies, along with the immigration officials at Wagah border as well as at the Delhi airport, have been collecting data of Kashmiri youths who travelled on valid visa for durations ranging over 7 days over the last 3 years, the officials said.
The figures were astonishing and in cases it was found the youths never returned and in others they disappeared after their return.
