Kashmiri Militant returns home after mother's appeal

Jammu: A boy, who joined militancy in Kashmir, has returned home today following an appeal by his mother, a senior police official said. “Another young boy responding to the appeals of crying mother returned to the fold of family leaving the path of violence in the valley”, DGP S P Vaid said in a tweet today.

The DGP also wished a happy reunion to the family in his tweet. “I wish the family a happy reunion”, he said. The age of the boy has not been disclosed. Four Kashmiri youths, who had taken to militancy, shunned the path of violence and returned to the mainstream in 2017.

Notably, last month, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, in a written reply to a question of BJP MLC Vikram Randhawa in the Legislative Council, said that four misguided youths shunned the path of violence and returned to the mainstream.

“Efforts are being made to counsel the families of militants to convince their wards to give up violence”, she said. The chief minister said her government had taken a number of states to contain radicalisation and extremism, and undertaken youth engagement activities, such as cricket tournaments.

Mufti said youth clubs had been set up at the police station level to train them in information technology and indoor games. Also, she mentioned about the surveillance on social media, which she said had been enhanced as the Internet plays a major role in the radicalisation of the youth.