Jammu, July 24
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti has asked the Centre to provide safe passage to Kashmiri youth who had gone to Pakistan for terrorist training but now wanted to give up arms and live in peace with their families. She also urged militant and separatist groups to be party to the peace process for settling the Kashmir issue.

Mehbooba was addressing the concluding session of the Pugwash conference on Kashmir in Colombo last evening. She said the separatist groups, including the militants, must get involved in the peace process. India should also take initiatives to involve various shades of opinion in the dialogue for the sake of peace in the region. The gun-wielding youth must also recognise merit of peaceful means in the global context and join the peace process and present non-violent agenda for the resolution of the problem instead of sticking to the hackneyed approach. The representatives of the state's people,whether elected or not, and its civil society should pool wisdom and moral resources to resolve the problem. People of Jammu & Kashmir would appreciate full participation and frank discussion for march towards stability and prosperity, she said.

Mehbooba said without getting bogged down by the situation in Pakistan, New Delhi must broaden ambit of the dialogue in the state to address political, economic and social concerns of its people. She stressed the need for encouraging involvement of the local militant groups in the peace process and asked the Government of India to work on the confidence-building measures targeted at the gun-wielding youth. She said allowing safe passage to the boys gone across for arms training and now eager to return and live peaceful lives and rehabilitation of the families of deceased militants were the vital elements of the process. Such measures would encourage militants to join the dialogue.

Udhampur, July 24
A nursing education programme on "Newer Approaches in Psychiatric Emergencies" was inaugurated by the Chief of Staff Northern Command, Lt-Gen Rajender Singh, at the Command Hospital here. Gen Rajender Singh emphasised that the commitments of the Army in general had gone up in recent times due to increased deployment to fight proxy war and insurgency. Tough working conditions, terrain and climatic factors have contributed to additional stress, hence the need to analyse and study various aspects to manage stress and impart training to those managing emergencies emerging out of stress.

Major-Gen Y.K. Sharma, Northern Command, released a souvenir on this occasion. Major-Gen Naresh Kumar, Commandant of the hospital, said the event would lead to equipping nursing and medical staff with updated knowledge and skills regarding psychiatric illness in stressful environment.