12 militants have shunned path of violence, says J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today said that 12 militants in Kashmir had shunned the path of violence and returned to the mainstream in the last three years.

She said this in the Legislative Council in reply to questions of several members, including Qaiser Jamsheed Lone and Ali Mohammad Dar of the National Conference (NC) and Congress' Gulam Nabi Monga.

From 2015 to 2017, 12 militants shunned the path of violence, but none of them gave representations for their rehabilitation under the Rehabilitation Policy 2004, the chief minister said.

The number of local youths joining militancy in Kashmir went up to 126 in 2017, a sharp increase from 88 in 2016, Mehbooba informed the House yesterday.

"As many as 66 youths joined militancy in 2015, 88 in 2016 and 126 in 2017," she said replying to a question by NC's Ali Mohammed Sagar