Hindustan Times (Lucknow)

‘Policy soon to bring radicalise­d J&K youths to mainstream’

- HT Correspond­ent lkoreporte­rsdesk@hindustant­imes.com ▪

LUCKNOW: Jammu & Kashmir governor Satyapal Malik on Monday said his government would soon bring a new policy paving the way for radicalise­d Kashmiri youths to come back to the mainstream.

“We have told the radicalize­d Kashmiri youths that we do not want to kill them. We rather want to adopt them and our government is bringing a policy that will open the path for their return to the mainstream,” he said while speaking as chief guest at a function held to sign inter-state bus agreements between UP and J&K and UP and Himachal Pradesh, here.

Malik said terrorism did not flow from the barrel of the gun but lay in the mind. “We have to destroy terror within the mind of the youths ,” he said adding the government was taking various steps to engage the youths in constricti­ve activities including sports.

He claimed complete peace and normalcy in the entire state of J&K due to which the tourist flow had gone up by 25% this year.

He said there was no stonepelti­ng and no new recruitmen­t to the terror organisati­ons in the state.

“J& K is now normal like any other state with no terror killings,” he claimed adding, “The number of people that are murdered in a day in Patna is equal to the number of people killed in a week in J&K.”

Malik said holding panchayat polls in the state recently amid high voter turnout and without any bloodshed was an indication of how things had normalized since the state came under the governor’s rule a few months ago.

He said the new inter-state bus agreement signed between the two states would increase the flow of devotees to the Vashno Devi temple.

“I am told 86 lakh devotees visited the Vaishno Devi shrine last year and the bus agreement will take the number beyond one crore,” he said.

Later, chief minister Yogi Adityanath alongwith Malik flagged off four air-conditione­d buses that would ply regularly between Prayagraj and Katra in J&K during the Kumbh mela beginning January 15.

 ?? SUBHANKAR CHAKRABORT­Y/HT PHOTO ?? ▪ J&K governor Satyapal Malik with CM Yogi Adityanath signing inter-state bus agreements between UP and J&K, in Lucknow on Monday.
SUBHANKAR CHAKRABORT­Y/HT PHOTO ▪ J&K governor Satyapal Malik with CM Yogi Adityanath signing inter-state bus agreements between UP and J&K, in Lucknow on Monday.

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