SRINAGAR: The Jammu and Kashmir police plan to tap Kashmir’s sporting culture by organising more and more cricket, football and baseball matches involving the local youth in an attempt to keep them away from the clutches of militancy and drugs.
“Just yesterday there was a baseball match here and that too at night. There was a tremendous response from the public with the police watching on,” J&K director general of police Dilbag Singh said.
The police chief said in the past they had even organised sporting events in which four teams from downtown Srinagar, where separatist and militant ideology run high, participated.
He said the success of these matches showed it was possible to channelise youthful energy in the right direction.
“I am even ready to absorb some talented youth in the force, this will ensure they do not go astray.”
The DGP blamed Pakistan and its handlers in the Valley for continuously driving susceptible youth into militancy and underlined the need to counter this on a war footing.
“They are adept at cyber terrorism and we need to devise a policy at the national level to blunt this,” said Singh.
The police chief appeared to blame India’s western neighbour for the drone attack on the Indian Air Force base in Jammu.
“Some non-state actors must be involved as military grade explosives were used in the attack,” he said.
Singh felt the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan would embolden militant groups here and foreign terrorists may be diverted to Kashmir.
“But we are confident of facing the challenge. The army is there at the Line of Control and we (the police) are in the Valley. It needs to be seen how things turn out,” he said, stressing that many top militants had been neutralised recently.