J&K Congress wants 5 lakh jobs for youths in Valley

The youth wing of the Jammu and Kashmir Congress Committee today demanded that the Centre introduce an employment package of nearly five lakh jobs in the Valley so that the youth may not be "misled into stone-pelting."

"There is no private sector in Kashmir and there is a huge unemployment. So we appeal to the Centre and the state government to announce an employment package for the youth of Kashmir so that they could not be misled into stone-pelting," general secretary of the party youth wing Vikar Rasool told reporters here.

Rasool also said that the youth in the Valley should give a positive response to the steps taken by the Centre to deal with the civil unrest in the Valley.

"The youth of Kashmir should respond positively to the Centre's eight-point initiative for normalising the situation in the valley. Stones and violence are not a solution," he said.

He demanded creation of five lakh jobs for the youth and more steps to generate employment in the Valley.

He said the youth should come to the "dialogue table" and work out issues amicably with the interlocutors from the Centre.