Militants release three out of 12 abducted relatives of Jammu and Kashmir Police personnel

Militants in Jammu and Kashmir have released three relatives of policemen they had kidnapped since Thursday, according to media reports. Free Press Kashmir  reported that Gowhar Ahmed Malik, the brother of a DSP-rank police officer, was one of the people freed by the militants.

The development came soon after the police released Hizbul operational commander Riyaz Naikoo’s father Assadullah on Friday, two days after they took him into custody in Pulwama district. In total, the militants had abducted at least 12 relatives  of policemen.

The militants had carried out the abductions on the day the NIA arrested the son of globally-wanted terrorist Syed Salahuddin.

In a statement released on social media on Friday, Riyaz said that the police had compelled the militants to act against families because the police had arrested a non-combatant relative (Assadullah) of a militant.

Former chief ministers Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah condemned the abductions. While Abdullah said the abduction of kin of policemen was a worrying reflection of the situation in the valley, Mufti said that families of either militants or forces should not be made to suffer.

After news of the release of some family members broke, Mufti tweeted that she hoped that “good sense prevails and all of them are released soon”. With inputs from agencies