New Delhi, January 5

Plans are on the anvil to bring in a shift in the counter-insurgency strategy in Kashmir in which “false” propaganda inspiring youth to take up arms will be targeted rather than individuals alone, says new Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat.

He is also concerned at the rising number of Kashmiri youth joining militancy.

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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 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.

“When the local youth join insurgency and pick up gun it is a matter of concern because our own countrymen getting involved in insurgency is not a happy situation,” Gen Rawat said.

Since the killing of Hizb-ul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani on July 8 last year, 59 local youth have joined militant groups as per official figures though security experts say the figure is much higher.

Gen Rawat questioned if the local youth in Kashmir are getting into insurgency because of feeling of deprivation, which he said was happening in other areas.

“Is it similar to what is happening with naxalism? It is not. It has something to do with the false propaganda that is being propagated. I think we need to 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 said. —PTI