AMN /New Delhi
The first time offenders in stone pelting cases in Jammu and Kashmir(J&K) will be given amnesty, according to a proposal cleared by the Home Ministry.
“This gesture is aimed at giving push to the ongoing peace process in the state,” said a source in the Ministry. The Ministry will be writing to the J&K Government to initiate the process in the state to withdraw the cases, added the source.
Recently, the newly appointed Government’s interlocutor on J&K Dineshwar Sharma had visited the state and interacted with different representatives of the people there but overall response was said to just lukewarm.
This effort is being considered as confidence building measure by the Centre.
The state government is also ready to pardon the youths who have been booked in cases of stone-pelting in the state, if they shun violence and live normal lives.
The Law Minister of the state Abdul Haq Khan has also said that they are actively mulling a plan to pardon those youths who are not involved in any heinous crime. “We will not destroy their future and have to take care of them,” said Khan some time ago in the J&K Legislative Council.