Over 20,000 Kashmir youths turn up for first Agniveer rally despite terror threat

Srinagar: More than 20,000 Kashmiri youths have participated in the Army’s first Agniveer recruitment rally in the valley, notwithstanding a plan of sabotage by the terrorists of Jaish-e-Mohammad.

“Around 35,000 aspirants had submitted their applications from the ten districts in Kashmir and two districts of the Union territory of Ladakh. Of them, more than 20,000 youths appeared in the competitive tests. The response was slightly poor from Ladakh due to the season and distance,” Rayees Mohammad Bhat, Senior Superintendent of Police in Baramulla told India Narrative.

The 14-day-long recruitment rally concluded at Army’s 10-Sector headquarters in Pattan, Baramulla, on Friday.  A similar rally was held for 14 days at a military formation at Sunjwan in Jammu. Both, male and female candidates participated in the two rallies in large numbers.

On September 17, the first Agniveer rally was flagged off by the General Officer Commanding of the counter-insurgent Kilo Force at the 10-Sector headquarters at Hyderbeigh in Pattan. Officials said that more than 35,000 applications were received from the youths aspiring to join the Indian Army in Agniveer General Duty including technical clerks and Agniveer tradesmen.

SSP Baramulla said that some terrorist groups had drawn a plan to sabotage the Agniveer rally at Hyderbeigh Pattan. Two militants from south Kashmir had been given the task of mounting an attack outside the rally entrance. However, the Police and security forces received specific information about this plan and launched an operation on Thursday night. Both the terrorists were eliminated in the encounter.

The arms and ammunition recovered from the militants killed in the encounter included one AK-74 rifle, commonly known as Kironkov, which is allotted only to senior commanders in the JeM. “Apparently it was not a plan for Fidayeen attack. In suicide attacks, only the normal AK-47/56 rifles are given to the terrorist cadres”, SSP said.

The registration for the recruitment rally was thrown open an online platform from 5th July  to 3rd August  and an overwhelmingly positive response was received from all areas of the Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh.

A massive outreach campaign in all 10 districts of Kashmir was undertaken by ARO Srinagar in cooperation with the civil administration. A further boost was provided by advertisements in local, vernacular dailies and English newspapers published in Kashmir and Ladakh. DD Kashmir and DD Leh also provided wide publicity to the scheme and the recruitment drive. Kashmir and Ladakh stations of All India Radio also advertised the campaign to increase public awareness.

Assistance from civil administration was requested through the Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, who directed all concerned towards optimising the efforts towards creating awareness about the scheme amongst the general populace.

The Army authorities through official channels contacted various departments such Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education, J&K Board of Technical Education, J&K Sports Council as well as the  Zila Sainik Welfare Boards and National Cadet Corp (NCC) Group HQ and battalions, for dissemination of the details related to the Agnipath Scheme and the recruitment rallies.

Screening of candidates was planned district-wise to facilitate their travel to the rally site and smooth return. The civil administration supported the Indian Army with regard to transport, lodging, and food for all outside candidates including those from UT of Ladakh.

The Army officers associated with the rallies said that the physical tests have concluded and the process of verification of documents and health standards has begun. As of now, it was not clear how many of the youths would be finally recruited.