500 Kashmiri youths turn up for Army recruitment rally

Defying the separatists’ call of agitation, around 500 Kashmiri youths today turned up for an Army recruitment rally in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district, one of the worst-hit places in the ongoing unrest in the Valley.

“Over 500 youths took part in today’s recruitment rally which took place at Anantnag High Grounds,” an Army official said.

He said the recruitment rallies in south Kashmir would continue till September 25.

The official said more than 12,000 youths across Kashmir have applied online under the recruitment process.

“The number of applicants could have been more had there been no problems in the internet connectivity in the Valley,” he said.

The Army’s recruitment drive would move north from September 29, when such a rally would be held in Bandipora district.

Anantnag is one of the worst-hit districts in the current unrest in the Valley. Violence broke out in the state in the aftermath of killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in an encounter with security forces on July 8.

While mobile internet was snapped across Kashmir on July 9, authorities have cut wire-line internet in the Valley on a few occasions.

As many as 81 people, including two cops, have lost their lives in over two-month-long violence in the Valley.