Srinagar, May 04 (KMS): In occupied Kashmir, at least 45 youth from the Kashmir Valley including an MBA and a PhD scholar have joined mujahid organizations this year till mid-April, according to officials, as the surge in numbers take the occupation authorities by surprise.
The Indian police, Army and paramilitary forces have said that Shopian and Kulgam in south Kashmir have emerged as a major hub by respectively accounting for 12 and 9 of the 45 youth joining the mijahid organisations.
The other areas of south Kashmir which have witnessed youth taking to armed struggle are Islamabad (7), Pulwama (4) and Awantipura (4). Moreover, unconfirmed reports suggest that three more from Pulwama had joined the mujahideen.
Similarly, in north Kashmir, one youth from Handwara, two from Kupwara, one each from Bandipora and Sopore and one from Srinagar have disappeared in the recent past and are suspected to have joined the mujahid organisations.
Those joined mujahideen include Junaid Ashraf, an MBA degree holder from Kashmir University, and son of Chairman of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat Jammu and Kashmir Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai. The list also includes a 26-year-old PhD scholar, Mannan Bashir Wani, hailing from Kupwara. Wani was studying in the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).
It is to mention here that the worst kind of Indian state terrorism and denial of peaceful means to register protest against the brutalities of the Indian forces in the occupied territory over decades has left the Kashmiri youth with no option but to take to armed struggle to seek their right to self-determination.