On a day when Army Chief General Bipin Rawat called for coordinated efforts by security forces to deal with the problem of stone pelting by civilians during anti-militancy operations, a veteran politician in Kashmir said the youth in the state were fighting for their rights and not for becoming an MLA or MP.
“Everyone loves life, nobody wants to die. They (youth) have promised God that they will sacrifice their lives for justice,'' National Conference president Farooq Abdullah said at a party function in Srinagar.
''This fight was started in 1931. We want both countries (India and Pakistan) to do justice to us,'' he said.
The former union minister said India had forgotten the promises it made in 1948 to Kashmiris. ''The new generation of Kashmiris do not fear guns and have embarked on the path of justice,” he said.
Abdullah urged Center to engage the alienated youth of the state politically.
''We are not condoning violence or turmoil,'' he said. “We want that the root cause of alienation is addressed rather than continuing with the policy of treating the symptoms through operational and administrative mechanisms.''
That approach, he said, had failed and yielded nothing but the loss of young lives on all sides.
Earlier, the army chief reinforced the need to maintain high vigil, after attending the wreath laying ceremony of the soldiers who were killed in a midnight ambush at Shopian on Thursday.
Rawat, accompanied by Northern Army Commander Lt Gen D. Anbu and general officer commanding of 15 corps, Lt Gen J.S. Sandhu, visited the Victor and Kilo Force Headquarters where he was briefed on the prevailing security situation and on the recent operations conducted by the security forces.
"The army chief discussed the issue of stone pelting during the operations and impressed upon all to synergise efforts with other security agencies in dealing with such situations effectively,” said Colonel Rajesh Kalia, defence spokesman at Srinagar.
Last week Rawat said those disrupting anti-militancy operations in Jammu and Kashmir would be considered as over ground workers of terrorists.
