New Delhi, Jan. 18 (TNS): For boys and young men who quit the world of armed militancy to return home in occupied Kashmir, the journey to the mainstream is set to become easier—the occupier Jammu and Kashmir Police and the puppet state government are working toward a comprehensive plan for their rehabilitation, complete with jobs and counseling, Indian media reported on Thursday.
“We will train them in different programmes that will make them employable and ensure that they are fully rehabilitated, emotionally and economically,” S.P Vaid, director general of occupied Jammu and Kashmir Police, told Mint.
While authorities are working on giving the programme a structure, senior officials who are familiar with the plan, said that ex-militants would be trained in a variety of skills so as to enable them to find jobs.
“All efforts are being made by the state to ensure that these young boys have no urge to leave their homes and when they leave militancy and return, they will have a safety net wherein they will be trained in various skills so that they too can be part of the mainstream. The modalities are still being worked out and the programme will be rolled out soon,” said a Union home ministry official, who did not wish to be named.
While the Indian Union home ministry stated that 210 militants were killed by security forces in 2017, according to the state police, 100 young boys—aged 17 to 25—have either voluntarily left militant groups such as the Hizbul Mujahideen (HM), Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) over the last six months, or been rescued by police while being taken away to training camps across the border by militant recruiters.
