When Manoj Kumar Manhas, a local Hindu militant surrendered himself before the security forces on November 9, 2004, an alert was sounded indicating that more local Hindu youth could have joined the ranks of the separatist militants in the Jammu region of the state.

• The Road to Peace

That perhaps is the reason for many locals not raising their eyebrows when another Hindu militant identified as Uttam Singh was slain in an encounter with the security forces as he fought alongside the cadres of the Hizbul Mujahideen [Images] last week.

Singh was originally a member of the anti-insurgency Village Defence Committee in his village in Doda district, but was finally sucked into its ranks by the Hizbul Mujahideen.

• Hizbul Mujahideen militant arrested in Patna

The VDCs were organised by the Jammu and Kashmir [Images] government in the remote and inaccessible areas of the Jammu region and were equipped with firearms to fight the presence of the militants in their villages.

Given the sophisticated automatic weaponry of the militants against the ordinary manually loaded rifles issued to the VDCs, the efficacy of these anti-insurgency units has always remained highly doubtful.

Senior police officers maintain there was nothing surprising about the discovery. Money, romance with the gun and often, the fear of the separatist militants are cited as the main reasons for some youth of the Hindu community who have joined the militant ranks.

"They have no sentimental moorings for joining the militant ranks. Romance with the gun and lure of money are their main motivations, besides constant threats to their families. We have inputs about some Hindu youth having joined the militant ranks, but there is nothing alarming about it," Inspector General of Police (Jammu) Dr S P Vaid told rediff.com.
Dr Vaid also confirmed that there were between 10 to 15 Hindu youth who had joined the militant ranks in Rajouri, Doda and Udhampur districts of the Jammu region.

"These youth mainly exist in the Hizbul Mujahideen and the Lashkar-e-Tayiba groups operating in these areas," the IG said.

It must be recalled that the frontline local militant group, the Hizbul Mujahideen had been making claims in the past that their ranks were 'multi-religious'.

The group had, however, quoted a much higher number of such Hindu militants than is being confirmed by the intelligence agencies in the state.