Srinagar, July 10: Calling for countrywide participation in providing relief and rehabilitation to victims of militancy in Jammu and Kashmir, chief minister Mufti Mohd Sayeed today said that he would like the effort to be a people's movement in which all citizens participate. Appealing to countrymen for donations to the corpus of J&K council for rehabilitation, set up to help the victims of militancy, he said, "the council had to augment its resources to meet the daunting challenge of providing the healing touch to every deserving person".

He said that his government attached the highest priority to the relief and rehabilitation of militancy victims without any discrimination. But the corpus with the council was only Rs.18.03 crore and thus inadequate, the chief minister said he hoped people would rise to the occasion and contribute to the humanitarian cause. Donations to the council would be exempt from income tax, he said.

Stating that jobs had been provided to the affected families as part of the healing touch policy, he said the activities of the rehabilitation council would be extended to other areas like education of orphans and the welfare of widows and aged parents who have lost their children in militancy-related incidents.

Bureau Report