Police to be lenient towards youth shunning militancy

Lastweek,Khansaid,thegovernmentwaskeentohaveanew surrender policy in place. “The government has sought suggestions from the police and we are compilingthem.Iamsurewewill have a fruitful surrender policy in place soon,” he had said.

Majid Khan, a resident of AnantnaginsouthKashmir,surrendered on November 16. The brightstudentandapopularfootballgoalkeeperbecametheLeT’s latest recruit in the Valley last week, triggering grief among familymembersandneighbours.

The development prompted two more families from the regiontoissue similaremotional pleas for the return of their sons.

Thetearfulparentsofatrader, AshiqHussainBhat,approached themediawithamessageforhim to return to their home in Shopiandistrict.AphotographofBhat brandishingagunhadgoneviral on social media after he went missinglastweek,purportedlyto join the LeT.

Manzoor Ahmad Baba, a 20-year-old fruit grower from Pulwama, also allegedly joined the ranks of militants recently.

Superintendents of police of Pulwama and Shopian districts said that Bhat nor Baba had returned.

The return of the Kulgam youthcameaftertopsecurityofficials in Kashmir on Sunday sought to draw a distinction between local and foreign militants, urging Kashmiri boys to return home and promising to “receive them in an honourable manner”. “We will help them. Therewillbenoharassmentand theywillgetmorehelpthanthey expected,” inspector general of Central Reserve Police Force, Zulfikar Hassan, said.

PTI FILE The latest return follows the surrender of Majid Khan, a resident of Anantnag in south Kashmir, on November 16 after his mother’s tearful appeal in a video went viral. Majid was a bright student and a popular goalkeeper, who had become the LeT’s latest...