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| Coimbatore welcomes Kashmiri students with open arms | | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Nov 24: Though people in India epitomize Jammu and Kashmir as heaven, Rakesh Singh, a native of Dharmari in Reasi district of Jammu, after his visit to Coimbatore, found it no less than a heaven and the people angels.
Rakesh is part of the 23 member team who are in the city for two days as part of Operation Sadbhavana, measure adopted by the Indian army to win the hearts and minds of people living in the fringes of Pakistan borders and have been dealing with insurgency problems.
"Living in remote areas, forest and mountain we haven't seen any development in our area," says Rakesh, a tenth standard student who has closely witnessed insurgency and terrorism in his area.
There were no proper roads, electricity, jobs or school until the Army did it for us. People have suffered since many years with the area being devastated by terrorist attacks, added Rakesh, whose house came under attack more than 10 times as his family was part of the village defence committee.
"Operation Sadbhavana has made us familiar to a different India that we have never seen before," he added. "We did not have good schools in our area and youngsters earned their living by doing small jobs, said Sukhadev Singh, another 21 year old, who just completed his tenth standard.
Hailing from Dharmadi village in Jammu Sukhdev, who stepped out of his village for the first time remarks illiteracy and poverty are still a curse here. Educating the mass is necessary to change the attitude to the present problems. However things are changing after army took the charge here and has made remarkable advancement in the lives of people by establishing good roads, school and other facilities, he added.
Sukhdev says that their trip to Bengaluru and now Coimbatore has changed their views and made them realize the need and importance of development. "We would like to take the message to our people back home about the growing changes and make them understand the role of the government in helping us," he added.
Explaining about the trip, Major Ruchir Anand of Rashtriya Rifles posted in Mahore, said that Operation Sadbhavana is a bridge for these students to cross across the valley to the India that is changing fast and developing at a rapid pace. This exposure would help them to understand the importance of development and the need to move away from the path of terrorism.
He said during the 15 day trip the students including two teachers would visit places in South India. They have already visited Bengaluru, they will be in Coimbatore for two days, before going to Ooty on Tuesday.
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