New Delhi: In a move being viewed as both strategic and symbolic, home ministry plans to raise five special battalions of para-military forces and an equal number of India Reserve (IR) Battalion exclusively from the South Kashmir regions to generate more employment opportunities for the youth in the militancy prone area.
The move is strategically significant since South Kashmir has witnessed maximum violence in the last few months and even Intelligence inputs suggest that most of the fresh recruits for terror outfits are also from the same area.
While the expenditure for recruiting central forces would be paid entirely by the para-military concerned, the cost for IR Battalions would be shared jointly by the state government and the home ministry.
Sources said a detailed analysis by security forces of the violence that gripped the Valley post killing of the top Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani revealed that unemployment was one of the main reasons why youth, even the educated ones, from South Kashmir were getting attracted to subversive activities.
Sources in security agencies said with private sector virtually having no major financial activity in the terror-infested region, the onus was on the government to initiate job creation for the youth.
“Both the Centre and state have realised that they have to undertake a major exercise to create more jobs for the youth in the terror-affected areas so that by getting employment a large section of youth will move away from such subversive activities,’’ a senior official said.
The home ministry is likely to approach the Cabinet Committee on Security with a detailed proposal to recruit Kashmiri youth into para-military forces.
