New Delhi

In an unprecedented move, the senior-most Army leader in the Kashmir Valley met parents of 80 youth who are confirmed to have joined various terrorist groups and assured them their children will be saved in case they opt for life during an encounter with the forces.

General-Officer-Commanding of the Srinagar-based Chinar Corps Lt Gen D P Pandey told the parents who were invited for the closing ceremony of Jash-e-janoob (Festival of the south) where local youth competed in sports, that the Army is keen to bring their children back at all costs, including making sacrifices by soldiers.

“I request you to pull out your children from the marsh (daldal) called terrorism. I leave it up to you how you pull them out but please do it,” Lt Gen D P Pandey told the families, some of whom have their sons as commanders of various pro-Pakistani groups.

The Army posted a clip of Lt Gen Pandey's saddress to the families on Twitter:

"During an operation, if the misguided youth wants to surrender, we will make all possible efforts to save his life, even in face of threat to own forces. I make that promise to you " ~ Lt Gen DP Pandey #ChinarCorps Cdr#Kashmir @adgpi @NorthernComd_IA @JmuKmrPolice pic.twitter.com/O2v4XY2CcV

— Chinar Corps🍁 - Indian Army (@ChinarcorpsIA) August 31, 2021

Inspector General of Police (Kashmir) Vijay Kumar, who was also present on the occasion told the parents that  the police and security forces have been providing opportunities (to local terrorists) to surrender during live encounters since last year. He asked families to use their influence and convince their children to give up the gun and return

Lt Gen Pandey told the gathering,“I want to share that there are two aspects when a youth picks up gun: the first could be that he wants to impress girls or for drugs or is not good at education or even if he is good at education, he has a fascination for guns.

“The second and dangerous aspect is, whom I call, white-collar terrorist. He is one among us whose children are studying or employed only to ensure that his children are not sucked into the gun culture. However, this white-collar terrorist ensures that children of other families pick up guns,” Lt Gen Pandey.

“I had requested for a one-to-one meeting with you all to appeal to you to pull out your children quietly from terror groups. And let me tell you that even during operation, if some boy is ready to surrender, I assure you that the army will do whatever possible, even at the cost of suffering an injury, to get your child back,” Lt Gen Pandey said drawing applause from the families.