A week after three Kashmiri students were arrested from Jalandhar for their alleged links with a militant group, the Punjab Police has reportedly directed all educational institutes in the state to ask students from Jammu and Kashmir to submit a document certifying that they are not involved in any criminal or anti-national activities.

According to Punjab government sources, all prospective students from the restive state will be required to submit a certificate, issued by local authorities in Jammu and Kashmir, before they are granted admission in Punjab colleges.

Local police authorities in Jammu and Kashmir provide students from the state that he or she has not been involved in either criminal or anti-national activities. The certificate would be verified by Punjab Police and it is only then that the students would be able to gain admission.

There are about 9,000 students from Jammu and Kashmir currently studying in Punjab and many more come each year.

The students were picked from the hostel of CT Institute of Engineering Management and Technology, located at Shahpur on the outskirts of Jalandhar in a joint operation by Punjab Police and the Special Operations Group of Jammu and Kashmir Police.

Punjab's Director General of Police Suresh Arora described the three students as a module of Kashmiri terror outfit Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind and said they had links with Jaish-e-Mohammed.

"In joint operation, Punjab Police and J&K police picked up four students linked to AGH/JeM from Jalandhar, Punjab. Arms, ammunition & explosives recovered. The module handler picked up by J&K Police is being questioned," J&K Police said in a tweet on October 10.

The team seized two weapons, including an assault rifle, and explosives from the hostel room of second semester B.Tech (Civil) student Zahid Gulzar, Arora said in a statement.

Gulzar is a resident of Rajpora in Srinagar.

He was arrested along with two Pulwama residents, Mohammed Idris Shah and Yusuf Rafiq Bhatt.

Recently, another Shopian resident, Gazi Ahmad Malik, was picked up by Punjab Police at Banur in Patiala, where he was studying at a polytechnic.

The DGP said it was learnt that Gazi was closely related to Adil Bashir Sheikh, a J&K special police officer (SPO) who fled with seven rifles from the home of a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) MLA in Srinagar.

The SPO is suspected to have joined Hizbul Mujahideen, the officer said.

(With PTI inputs)