Army on Monday appealed to local militants to surrender, saying army believes in giving a second chance and militants should accept mistakes and surrender and they will be welcomed back with open arms.

GOC Northern Commander Y K Joshi on Monday urged the local militants to shun path of violence and join the mainstream.
“We again urge militants, who are holding guns, to surrender and return to the mainstream. We will provide them support to lead a normal life,” Lt Gen Joshi said at Manasbal in central Kashmir district of Ganderbal, where a function was organized to observe 23rd anniversary of ‘Homecoming’ of local ‘misguided youth’.
He said over some time, it has been observed that families of youth, who have joined militancy, are pleading with them to leave gun culture and cycle of violence, and come back to their families.
"It is heartbreaking to see this happening. We make all out efforts to ensure that we seek surrenders and facilitate surrenders even when we are in the midst of intense operations. We want the youth to come back to the mainstream and we will always welcome them with open arms,” Lt Gen Joshi said.
He said Army and the civil administration will facilitate not only their surrender but also ensure that they are well integrated back into the mainstream.
Lt Gen Joshi said the Indian Army gives a lot of importance to observing human rights when conducting counter-militancy operations. "We ensure that we use minimum force and there is minimum collateral damage”.
"We, the uniformed forces, are here to save lives and not to take lives,” he added.
The Northern Commander also reiterated that parents have an important role to play, in ensuring that their children do not follow the path of violence, which only brings pain and misery, not only for the ones who join militancy, but also their immediate and extended families.
Defence ministry spokesman Col Emron Musavi said Army observed the 23rd anniversary of the rescue operation of 23 young men by the Army in the border town of Gurez in north Kashmir district of Bandipora, when they were trying to cross over to the other side of the LoC.