Kashmiri youth should unmask 'duplicity' of leaders: Jitendra Singh

Minister of State (MoS) for the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region Jitendra Singh on Monday said the so-called 'Kashmir-centric leaders' with separatist leanings instigate poor children to become stone pelters and sacrifice their lives for the so-called 'jihad', whereas they themselves have lodged their children in 'safe havens' in metropolitan cities outside the Valley.

Launching a scathing attack on what he termed as the 'duplicity' of the Kashmiri leaders, Singh said that recent developments in the Valley have made the youth more awakened and, therefore, it was time to unmask these leaders.

"It is also an opportunity for the youth of Kashmir, who are already much more awakened than before to see through this duplicity and also call upon this Kashmir-centric leaders that if they are indeed as sincere as they claim to be to the so-called freedom struggle, then, why don't they offer their own children to become stone pelters and risk their lives?" he told ANI.

"This very clearly exposes the duplicity of some of the these Kashmir-centric leaders with separatist leanings, because on one hand, they are instigating the children of the poor to turn into stone pelters and lay down their lives in the name of 'jihad' or freedom struggle. On the other hand, there is a clear evidence that most of these leaders have lodged their own children in safe havens of India's best metropolis," he added.

Singh also said some of these leaders want government jobs for their children, while others want that their children should either be chief minister or deputy chief minister.

"Many of these leaders aspire their children to get into government jobs; some of them being former ministers and former chief ministers also aspires to become their children chief minister or ministers, whereas they instigate the poor man child to become stone pelters and I think this is an eye-opener," he added.

The Tral encounter at Jammu and Kashmir, which began on Saturday, and ended the next day was disrupted several times by locals, who pelted stones at security personnel who finally ended up killing a local and a Pakistani militant.

A girl and a policeman were injured after students protesting an 'out of syllabus' paper in their 12th board exams clashed with police here, who resorted to a cane charge and teargas shelling to disperse them.