Aazan Manzoor
Srinagar, 1 Oct (KB): Jammu and Kashmir is progressing towards peace and prosperity, with tourism on the rise and terrorist recruitment on the decline, said General Upendra Dwivedi—Chief of the Army Staff on Tuesday.
He added, in J&K, children today know which is our country’s flag.
“Speaking on the present situation, I must refer to August 2019, as you all are aware of what happened, and afterwards, as an Army commander, we visited the wife of one of the active politicians at the time. What she said was that after the abrogation of Article 370, at least our children now know, when the principal tells them, ‘Please draw the flag of the country and bring it tomorrow for Independence Day,’ they are very clear about which country’s flag to draw,” said Upendra Dwivedi while speaking at the Chanakya Defence Dialogue curtain raiser event, as per the news agency—Kashmir Bulletin (KB).
He noted the clarity that emerged after the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019 regarding what Jammu and Kashmir means to India and what India means to Jammu and Kashmir.
“With that, the indicators we see today include the Amarnath Yatra crossing the significant figure of 5 lakh, and over 2 crore tourists have visited,” Dwivedi said.
“In terms of terrorism, only two people have been recruited in 2024, compared to the previous numbers of 100 to 300. If you look at these parameters, I believe we are moving towards peace and prosperity. Most of the terrorists now are foreign nationals,” he said.
Dwivedi further added, “We have reoriented, re-energized, and refocused our security forces. The police have undergone a major revamp. Any state can only be stable if its police force is effective, and this is what we are working to empower,” Dwivedi said. (KB)
