The security forces have nabbed a school headmaster along with a pistol for working as over ground worker in Hari Budha area of Poonch district on Sunday.
According to a statement, issued to a news agency that in a joint operation, launched by the Army and Police in Hari Budha, a registered over ground worker Qamaruddin who is the headmaster in school was caught with a foreign-made pistol and grenades in his house.
The statement reads that the consignment recovered from the headmaster is suspected to be used to disturb the ongoing election in the Poonch area. “The search is still in progress. Two Chinese grenades and one Pakistan made pistol were recovered from the OGW,” it said.
Over ground workers (OGWs), according to Indian security forces, are people who aid militants, or terrorists, with logistical support, cash, shelter, and other infrastructure with which terror groups and movements such as Hizbul Mujaheddin and Jaish-e-Muhammad in Jammu and Kashmir can operate. OGWs play a vital role in terrorist attacks, providing real-time information and support to the tactical elements. Over ground workers have diversified into other roles such as stone-pelting, mob-rioting, ideological support, radicalisation, and recruitment of terrorists. In 2020, up until 8 June, around 135 over ground workers were arrested in Jammu and Kashmir by the Jammu and Kashmir police. While the term is used and associated extensively with the Kashmir region, the term has also been used officially in other parts of India where insurgency is still active, such as in the Naxalite–Maoist insurgency and in Meghalaya for the Garo National Liberation Army.
An over ground worker (OGW), to the Indian security forces, is an individual who helps militants/terrorists with logistical support, cash, shelter, and other infrastructure with which armed groups and insurgency movements in the region operate. While the term is used and associated extensively with the Kashmir region, the term can also be used officially in other parts of India where insurgency is still active, such as in Meghalaya where over ground workers are associated with the Garo National Liberation Army. Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) reported arresting “84 linkman/ OGW” in 2017 in the anti-insurgency movement against the Naxals-Maoists. Many times the line between a terrorist operative or facilitator and an OGW blurs. For the Jammu and Kashmir Police “anybody who supports the militants” is categorized a potential OGW.
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