New Delhi, Jan. 05: Gen Rawat, who has experience in handling the Kashmir militancy, said that unlike naxalism in which locals are joining due to feeling of deprivation, it is not the case in Kashmir which has been under the siege from Pakistan-backed insurgency since late 1980s.
He said in an interview that the false propaganda and developments in the Middle East has affected some of the local youth and that is why one finds more and more educated youth getting driven towards militancy.
Since the killing of Burhan Wani on July 8 last year, more than 59 local youth have joined militant groups as per reported figures. Gen Rawat when asked if the local youth in Kashmir are getting into insurgency because of feeling of deprivation, which he said was happening in other areas.
He said that we should reach out to people. Rather than seeing them as targets, we need to sympathise with them and undo the kind of false propaganda that is being spread among the youth.
He added that it is important to understand as to why local militancy is gaining ground as Kashmir has seen the time when they had terrorists coming in from Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir and besides from other countries. We also found that some local youth have also started picking up the gun. This has got to do more with the social media and what has been happening in Middle East.(Agencies Input)
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