India is considering offering young Kashmiri militants an escape from a life of violence by temporarily resettling them in more peaceful parts of the country, according to a top military commander in the Valley.
Lieutenant Gen. B.S. Raju revealed the plan for a new scheme to offer a way out of militancy during a telephone interview from his headquarters in Srinagar.
He said recommendations had been submitted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government and that the plan, while not finalised, was in an advanced stage.
“These are young boys who need to be taken care of for a period of time,” Raju said, adding that could involve temporarily settling them outside of Kashmir.
Past efforts to persuade fighters to put down their guns have had mixed success. But Raju said the military had recommended the scheme to take a longer-term approach to rehabilitating ex-militants.
“The bottom-line is that it will have a structure that will help and give confidence to the people who are opting to surrender,” Raju said.
More than 50,000 people have died during more than three decades of insurgency.
About 200,000 military and paramilitary troops are deployed in the Valley. Raju said militant attacks have dropped by nearly 40 per cent compared to last year.
Last August, Modi changed the political landscape by taking away Jammu and Kashmir’s status as India’s only Muslim-majority state, splitting it into two Union Territories and removing the special privileges afforded to Kashmiris.
Promising a concerted effort to develop the region economically, Modi said the move was needed to integrate Kashmir more fully with the rest of the country, but critics said it would further alienate Kashmiris.
Since the start of the year, Indian security forces have killed around 135 militants, most of them recruited locally.
The military estimates that there are currently around 180 militants operating with various groups active in the Valley, Raju said.
Some 70 Kashmiris are reckoned to have been recruited by these groups since the start of the year, about a dozen less than during the same period a year ago.
“We wish that this should drop further, and finally cease altogether,” Raju said.
Currently most surrenders are conducted in line with a 2004 policy that provides a lump sum payout of Rs 150,000 ($2,000), a small monthly stipend, free vocational training and cash payments for weapons handed over.