SRINAGAR, Feb 6 (2000) – Indian authorities have sacked two jail officials, a doctor and two policemen in Kashmir following the escape of a top Muslim militant leader from custody, officials said Sunday.
The dismissals were decided Saturday following an investigation into the dramatic escape on February 2 of Mohammed Ramzan when he was being escorted by police to Kashmir’s main hospital here.
Ramzan, who used the alias General Abdullah, escaped from police guards outside the main gate of the Sri Maharaja Hari Singh hospital and fled in a waiting three-wheeler taxi.
Ramzan was chief commander of the Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen group when he was arrested two years ago in Srinagar, the summer capital of the Himalayan state of Kashmir.
He was one of the 36 jailed Muslim guerrillas whose release had been originally demanded by Muslim militants who hijacked an Indian Airlines plane on Christmas eve last year.
Kashmir officials here said the dismissed jail officials, doctor and police had conspired in Ramzan’s escape. The jail officials and doctor had reportedly favoured Ramzan’s trip to the hospital.
A spokesman for Jamiat had earlier toldthat the group believed Ramzan had been whisked away by Indian troops and would be killed in a fake gunbattle.
But the group has since made no comment on Ramzan or his whereabouts.
The Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen was once the most feared militant group in Kashmir, where a bloody Muslim separatist campaign since 1989 has claimed more than 25,000 lives.
