Full Disclosure: De-radicalisation camps operating in India 

Gen Rawat says camps operating to isolate Kashmiris who have been 'radicalised'


Social Desk January 17, 2020
General Bipin Rawat. (PHOTO: AFP)

In a first, Indian Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat has said 'de-radicalisation' camps are operating in his country to counter radicalisation.

According to NDTV, the Indian CDS spoke about de-radicalisation camps operating in India where Kashmiris who have been 'radicalised' can be isolated.

Speaking at a panel discussion at the Raisina Dialogue, a conclave of global affairs being hosted in New Delhi, Gen Rawat maintained that the camps are important for his country at this point in time.

"We can put an end to radicalisation if we target the right people. We have to address the ideology of radicalisation," he said.

Indian army’s growing political ambitions

The Indian CDS also shed light on young Kashmiris falling prey to radicalisation. He said that children as young as 10 years of age are being brainwashed and radicalised in Kashmir.

"These people can still be isolated from radicalisation in a gradual way. But there are others who have completely been radicalised," he said.

"These people need to be taken out separately, possibly taken into some de-radicalisation camps. We have de-radicalisation camps going on in our country," he stated.

He claimed that India's nuclear-armed rival Pakistan, too, has such camps to counter the fallout of its own 'propaganda'.

"Let me tell you, Pakistan is doing the same. They have understood," he said.

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This isn't the first instance that the former Indian army chief has made unsubstantiated claims against Pakistan. Last year, he claimed that Azad Jammu and Kashmir was controlled by 'terrorists' at a time when the two countries were on the brink of war.

India, the world's largest democracy, has also come under scathing criticism - by its own populace as well as the global community - over the passage of a series of controversial laws.

It includes the revocation of the special status of Indian Occupied Kashmir that has resulted in an information blockade in the besieged valley since August last year.

In December, the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party, led by hardline Prime Minister Narendra Modi, pushed through the controversial anti-Muslim Citizenship Amendment Act.

India has been witnessing extensive protests against the law, since it was cleared by the country’s Parliament and got presidential approval on December 12. It guarantees citizenship to non-Muslims of three neighbouring countries Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh.

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