Youth on wrong path be brought back for nation, J&K building: Azad

DAP leader Ghulam Nabi Azad addressing a rally at Uri on Saturday.
DAP leader Ghulam Nabi Azad addressing a rally at Uri on Saturday.

‘We have to ensure end to bloodshed’

Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Nov 12: Democratic Azad Party (DAP) Chief and former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad today said that the youth who are following the wrong path have to be brought back to the mainstream for building nation and Jammu and Kashmir.
Speaking to a largely attended rally in the border town of Uri in North Kashmir district of Baramulla, Azad said that those who have taken to arms or drugs have to be brought back to the national mainstream for nation building.
“Those who followed the wrong path, be it drugs or guns, have to be persuaded; we have to get them back for the building of J&K, for the service of their parents and the nation-building in general,” he said.
“In the last 30 years, we have lost nearly one lakh people and we have to ensure that it ends; we have to make sure that no one in the younger generation gets to see that again,” he said.
The DAP chief said that unemployment has led to drug addiction which is destroying entire society in J&K. “This is the reason that the youth of Kashmir are drawn towards drug addiction. It is cancer which ends up destroying the entire society,” he said.
“The reason behind that, basically, is unemployment and if the issue of unemployment is addressed, it will lead to an end to the menace of drug addiction as well as violence,” he added.
The senior DAP leader and former Minister, Taj Mohiuddin, in whose constituency the rally was held, said that the rally at Uri was beginning and this type of rallies will be carried out in coming days.
“We started meeting the public from Uri and this will be carried out further in days to come,” he added.
Taj said that both Pahari and Gujjar communities are important for the DAP.
“There were people from the Pahari community who were present during the rally, the Gujjar are a bit angry because they feel that Azad doesn’t talk about them. Both communities are important to us, they are two eyes for us,” he added.