Youth 'planning' to join militancy handed over to family after counselling: Police

A youth from Ganderbal district of Jammu and Kashmir, who was allegedly planning to join militancy, was apprehended and counselled before being handed over to his family, police said on Thursday. The youth was properly counselled by Ganderbal SSP Khalil Ahmad Poswal and other experts in presence of his parents and was later handed over to his parent, the official said.

A youth from Ganderbal district of Jammu and Kashmir, who was allegedly planning to join militancy, was apprehended and counselled before being handed over to his family, police said on Thursday. After receiving specific intelligence inputs about a youth planning to join militancy, police in Ganderbal district in Central Kashmir apprehended him and he was put to a brief questioning, a police official said.

During the questioning and upon verifying his social media outlook especially on WhatsApp and Telegram, the official said, it transpired that 22-year-old Umar Nazir Sheikh was in constant touch with some suspects in Bandipora and Pulwama and had developed an inclination to join militancy. The youth was properly counselled by Ganderbal SSP Khalil Ahmad Poswal and other experts in presence of his parents and was later handed over to his parent, the official said. He said Sheikh's parents expressed their gratitude to the police for this gesture and thanked them "for saving their beloved one early before his life gets ruined".

The SSP said several anti-national elements and operatives from across the border have been preying upon gullible Kashmiri youths on various social media platforms and enticing them to join militancy which needs to be curbed. Poswal said parents should also come forward and report any such activity of their wards so that they are mainstreamed through concerted counselling by experts..