Mufti visits Surankote, Rajouri to provide 'healing touch'

As part of his government's policy to provide a 'healing touch' to victims of militancy, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed visited Surankote and Rajouri and met the victims' families.

State Congress chief Ghulam Nabi Azad and People's Democratic Party vice-president Mehbooba Mufti accompanied him.

Sayeed visited the sub-district hospital in Surankote, where Munshi Khan and his son Waqar Ahmed (5), injured in a militant attack on December 21 at Gunthal village, are being treated.

Munshi Khan and his wife Kaneez Akhtar lost three of their four sons to the militants' bullets on Saturday night.

The chief minister handed Kaneez Akhtar a cheque of Rs 300,000 as ex gratia payment.

The travails of families of three victims of militancy in Hasoit and Thanamandi villages were no different. Agony and helplessness was writ large on the mothers of three girls, who were killed on the night of December 19-20.

Incidentally, the common thread among these girls was that their fathers were once part of the security forces.

Their mothers and other relatives expressed total ignorance about the possible motive for the killings.

Condemning the spurt in deaths of innocent people, Sayeed appealed to people to 'persuade' militants to shun violence, as the gun was no solution to problems.

"Time has come when people should also take upon themselves the responsibility of using their influence on militants to make them renounce violence," Sayeed told a gathering in Surankote.

He claimed that his government had undertaken several initiatives to persuade the Centre to enter into a dialogue with his government.

Sayeed also said he had taken up with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee the issue of having a special employment package for the state.

Pointing out that the state's capacity to provide employment was limited given its poor financial resources, Sayeed said his government would try to absorb teachers in literacy programmes and education projects.

The youth will be recruited in the army, paramilitary forces and the police for which the Centre, has been approached to initiate a special recruitment drive, he said.