Indian Army celebrates 23 years of homecoming of 23 Kashmiri youth rescued from militants....

Srinagar: The Indian army today (August 23) celebrated 23 years of homecoming of the 23 boys who were brought back from the clutches of militants in 1998. Army in its outreach program to felicitate these 23 individuals tried to send across a message to the youth of the Kashmir valley to shun the path of violence and come back to the mainstream.

On August 23, 1998, a group of 23 young Kashmiri boys was rescued while they were attempting to cross the LoC in the Gurez sector of Bandipora district.

Army said that these young boys were compelled by a fellow Kashmiri named Abdul Hamid Gada alias Bambar Khan, a resident of Ganderbal for joining terror outfits.

''The army is observing the 23rd anniversary of the homecoming of 23 boys who were forced to pick up arms but were rescued by the army in the Gurez sector and handed over to their families later. Today, I am glad that these 23 men are living a happy life back home with their families. I am sure all these 23 men will be satisfied with the decision they took 23 years ago. We have seen how families of young people are pleading with them to come back. It's heartbreaking to see this happening and we make all our efforts to ensure that we seek surrenders and facilitate surrenders even when we are in the midst of operations. We want youth to come back to the mainstream," said Yogesh Kumar Joshi, General officer Commanding-in-Chief (GoC-in-C) of the Army's Udhampur-based Northern Command.

The boys were with the militants for over a period of 10 days from August 4 to 14 in 1998. On 23rd, someone informed Brigade Headquarters that a large number of youths were seen in the jungles near the Kishenganga River. An operation was started, led by then Captain J S Budhwar.

"23 is a very lucky number. It was on 23rd August that 23 boys were rescued by us. Again after 23 years, we are meeting. The area where this operation took place was just 2 km from the LoC. We had the information. I remember it was about to sunset and we managed to reach the area and cordon it. We had no clue whether they were going to Pakistan or coming from there. But we had info about the presence of children. I had told my jawans to hold fire as I saw a movement of a small boy. We approached that boy as he was terrified and he told us there are many children like him who were being taken to Pakistan. We managed to rescue the whole group," said Budhwar, Brigadier Indian Army.

These rescued men are now leading normal lives as no cases were registered against them at that point of time. They are not only an inspiration to their own children but to the youth of the Kashmir valley.

"Those days everyone wanted to pick up guns and we also thought the same. Ultimately, we were rescued by the Indian army and handed over to our family. We were kids and now everyone is happy in their lives. Peace is the best option," said Showkat Ahmad Bhat, one of the individuals rescued.

Another rescue, Muzaffar Ahmad, said he wants the youth to know that there is nothing (good) in the path of violence. He went through the worst and doesn't want anyone else to go through it.

''When we left home there were four of us - one of my cousins and two others from nearby villages.  We reached Ajas. We kept roaming on the mountains for a long time. We reached the launching pad in Gurez. I was 15, another was 12 and my cousin was 10. We told our guides to leave us for a bit as we wanted to drink water. We rushed to the water stream close by. We drank like animals. We saw the army personnel on the other side of the river and they rescued us. If we see the situation in today's times, it's different now. I am the victim and I went too but I didn't find anything which was worth it," said Muzzafar Ahmad.

The Indian army appealed to the local youth to shun the violence and join the mainstream.