NEW DELHI: The day is not far when nobody in Jammu and Kashmir will possess a weapon, dispensing with the need for armed forces to be deployed within the Union Territory and ensuring that their role is limited to guarding the frontiers, home minister Amit Shah on Monday told young children from Jammu and Kashmir visiting Delhi as part of ‘Watan ko Jano’ (Know Your Country) programme.
Telling the visiting school children, some as young as eight years of age and some travelling out of their home/UT for the first time ever, that every part of the country belongs to them as much as J&K does, Shah asked them to ensure that they do not abandon their studies mid-way as “opportunities await you across the country”. “You should grab these opportunities. J&K is peaceful even now but you should make sure that the peace is permanent,” he said while exhorting the children to carry back the message of peace and development that they have witnessed in rest of the country during the ‘Watan ko Jano’ tour, to their family, friends, neighbours and village in J&K.
Around 250 children from J&K visited Jaipur and Delhi as part of the tour aimed at familiarising them with the social and cultural diversities of the country and bringing about an emotional connect among them. “We got a chance to visit the Hawa Mahal and enjoyed the non-Kashmiri cuisine in Jaipur,” Samriti Balraj from Reasi replied when asked by Shah about her experience. “Get your parents to visit next,” he promptly advised.
Stating that he sincerely believes that “no govt can maintain peace in J&K as only its children can”, the home minister asked the young J&K visitors to convince their parents and neighbourhood that the entire country belongs to them and that terrorism should be replaced with peaceful co-existence “that is witnessed in the other parts of the country”. To make sure that his message was understood by the children, the home minister gave the analogy of a house with several rooms, saying that states/UTs are like rooms that make India and that Kashmir is one such room. “Like you visit all rooms in your house, you must familiarise with the other states/UTs as well,” he said, even persuading them jokingly to fight with their parents to plan their next family vacation outside J&K.
Stating that J&K had witnessed a major change in the last 10 years, with civilian deaths down by 80% and a big push to development, infrastructure and industry, Shah said he was still not satisfied as he firmly believes that not a single Kashmiri youth should die.