False info being spread via propaganda machinery leading to stone-pelting incidents: Rawat

The incidents of stone-pelting are happening in Kashmir as a lot of "false information" is being fed to the people of the restive region, especially the youth, through a "propaganda machinery", Army chief General Bipin Rawat today said.

He said this in response to a question from a school student from Chhattisgarh during an interactive session at the South Block here.

"Lot of false information, misinformation is being fed to people in Kashmir, especially the youth, like Kashmir is an independent nation, or that the Army has forcefully occupied the Valley, it is separate nation, separate entity or that India is an anti-Muslim country," Rawat said when asked why stone-pelting incidents were taking place in Jammu and Kashmir.

The Army chief said that propaganda is being spread that Kashmir must "gain independence" from India.

On Maoist situation in Chhattisgarh, one class 12 student asked, what were the demands of the Maoists, to which, the Army chief replied, "It is a conflict of ideology... their demand are not very heavy, and they can be brought to the mainstream."
On stone-pelting, he said, "There are two ways to deal with stone-pelting issues, one is a harsh way, to take action...the other is to make them understand that such acts are not good for the person doing it or for the state itself."