Hundreds of young Kashmiris throng police recruitment rally

SRINAGAR - Hundreds of youngsters Wednesday thronged the first police recruitment rally held in Jammu and Kashmir’s Old City Srinagar after the recent summer unrest here Wednesday.

Hundreds of youth lined up in the Khanyar locality of Old City in summer capital Srinagar to join the local police.

Wednesday’s was the first on-the-spot police recruitment rally held in the politically sensitive Khanyar locality of Srinagar which had witnessed pitched clashes between the security forces and the protesters, mostly the youth, during the over four-month-long summer unrest in the valley.

Over 100 people had lost their lives in clashes between unruly mobs and the security forces during the unrest.

“The response to the recruitment rally proves that the youth here want to earn an honourable living for themselves,” Kashmir Inspector General of Police S.M. Sahai said.

“Even those youth against whom minor charges of stone pelting cases might be pending are welcome to join the police force,” said Sahai, who supervised the recruitment rally to ensure that it was transparent and credible.

The zonal police chief also said that it has been the intention of the police to recruit youth into the force from areas where their representation have been inadequate.

“It is chiefly because of unemployment that some youngsters indulged in stone pelting this summer,” said Irshad Ahmad, an aspiring police officer.

“Given a respectable job and an honourable opportunity to support our families, the youth would not waste themselves in anti-social activities,” Ahmad told reporters at the Khanyar recruitment rally.

Wednesday’s rally was part of the continuing effort by the state police to provide opportunities to youngsters to join the police force through hassle-free and transparent recruitment processes.