Another J&K youth quits militancy

Srinagar: Days after a young Kashmiri footballer Majid Irshad Khan surrendered before the Army merely nine days after joining Lashkar-e-Tayyaba in response to an appeal from his parents, another local youth has broken away from the militants’ ranks and returned home. “He has neither surrendered before the security forces nor been arrested,” said inspector-general of police Munir Ahmed Khan. He added that the 16-year-old boy has heeded to parents’ call and returned home in Chimmer village in southern Kulgam district. The police refused to divulge his name for security reasons. “We don’t want him to land in trouble,” said a senior police official. He also said that the boy had left his home on September 27 to join a militant outfit. The J&K police tweeted: Responding to the appeal of parents one more youth who had joined militants returns home in South Kashmir.

The police on Sunday had renewed its appeal to the local Kashmiri militants to shun militancy. Earlier after a 20-year-old footballer, Khan’s surrendered before the Army in Anantnag on November 16 night, the authorities had said that the move had a strategic value and could set the trend among the Kashmiri youth in the militants’ ranks to shun the gun and return home to lead a normal life.  Incidentally, J&K’s DG police Shesh Paul Vaid was on a visit of Kulgam to inaugurate a gymnasium for the police personnel on Monday when the news about another youth breaking away from the militants’ ranks and returning home broke. He tweeted, “On my visit to Kulgam I was told another local militant has come back home in response to the appeal of his mother and other family members. Great news!”

He seized the occasion to reiterate the promise that the J&K police will “facilitate and help youth who have joined militants’ ranks to return home.” The CRPF which along with the J&K police and the Army is combating militancy in the state has, meanwhile, set up a helpline for the local militants who wish to surrender and return home to lead a normal life.

“I think we’re entering the stage wherein a large number of local youth who joined militancy wants to give up the gun,” said CRPF’s Inspector General (Operations) Zulfikar Hassan.