Rajnath Singh in Kupwara: Meets families residing in border areas

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, along with Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and MOS PMO Jitendra Singh, arrived in Kupwara on Friday and met people living near the border areas. Singh, who is on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, had reached Srinagar on Thursday.

As per latest reports, Rajnath Singh, Mehbooba Mufti and Jitendra Singh met representatives of 'Gurjar' community in Kupwara.

The Home Minister had yesterday said the government has a "lot of love" for the state and that the Centre has decided to withdraw cases against those "misled into stone pelting".

"We believe that children anywhere are the same. We understand that some youth were misled into stone pelting..Children can make mistakes... That is why we decided to withdraw the cases against those children who were involved in stone pelting," he said.

Singh appealed to the youth not to tread the path of destruction, adding that the Centre and the state government had initiated several schemes to help them secure their future.

"I want to appeal to the youth that they should take the path of development... They should not go on the path of destruction," he said at a sports function at the Sher-e-Kashmir Indoor Stadium here.

Ten terrorists have been killed so far in at least three major encounters near the LoC in Kupwara sector ever since the Centre announced a unilateral Ramzan ceasefire last month. The army has stepped up vigil along the LoC, especially the Kupwara region, in the light of this fresh infiltration. They also managed to prevent certain terrorist activities, including a bid to loot a J&K Bank cash van in South Kashmir yesterday.