Kids should be in schools, not on streets: Mehbooba Mufti

Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday said that children who are participating in the ongoing protests in the Valley should be in schools inst-ead. She reiterated that she is pained to see children being used for these protests by “vested interests”.

She also laid stress on revival and continuation of peace and confidence-building process with Pa-kistan which had helped transform the situation in the state and along the borders between 2002 and 2005.

While speaking at a function in Jammu, she urged the youth in Kashmir to focus on studies and said that the rightful place of our children is in the educational institutions like IITs, IIMs, engineering, medical, dental colleges and not on the streets. “The youth in Kashmir should return to the educational institutions and concentrate on their studies instead of being on the streets or sitting idle at their homes,” she said.

The 53-day unrest in the Valley triggered by the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Muzaffar Wani had resulted in the shutting down of all educational institutions. The examinations which were scheduled to be held during this period have either been cancelled or deferred in anticipation of the situation on the ground improving.