Must sit down together to bring peace: Army Chief General Bipin Rawat

Army Chief General Bipin Rawat on Sunday said the radicalised youth of the Valley would soon realise that the gun was not the solution to their problem as neither security forces nor terrorists would achieve their goals through it.
Peace, he said, was the only way to improve the situation in Kashmir that had been witnessing militancy for about three decades now. “There is hope that the situation in Kashmir will improve…. There are some youths in Kashmir who have strayed and have been radicalised. They think they can achieve their goal through the gun.
“But the time is not far when even they will be convinced that neither the forces nor the terrorists will be able to achieve their goals. We have to together find a way for peace and we will be successful in that,” General Rawat said.
The Army Chief was speaking at the 70th foundation day of Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry Regiment.
General Rawat, who has served extensively in Kashmir, said the concept of ‘Kashmiryat’ had to be brought back and the process should be initiated from the University of Kashmir.
He noted that “unity in diversity” was the real essence of Kashmiriyat and it was important to inform the youth about it.
“To revive that Kashmiriyat, we need to get our act together. It is not difficult. We have to get our act together, sit down together, work together and make sure that we all get united and bring about peace,” he added.
He said although a section of the people in the Valley had strayed, it was a “very small” number and the majority of the people desired peace and believed that they were Indians. “It is wrong to say that the situation in Kashmir has deteriorated. The atmosphere is vitiated but the situation has not deteriorated,” he said.