JK Agencies probe youth radicalisation especially girls in Kashmir schools

Security agencies in Jammu and Kashmir are intensifying their surveillance on several educational institutions, particularly private schools, due to growing concerns over the alleged radicalisation of young minds, especially among female students, officials said here.

- NL CORRESPONDENT

The concerns also extend to the alleged widespread use of narcotics, a problem flagged as being particularly rampant in some private schools.

Officials familiar with the developments spoke about disturbing information coming from some private schools forcing authorities to quietly warn them against the spread of radical ideologies among youngsters.

The initiative is part of a larger effort to fight back against the transmission of extremist narratives at the ground level.

Apart from security authorities, the surge in radicalisation has even startled some ex-separatist groups as they are concerned that another religious extremism wave, forced from the other side of the Line of Control (LoC), will destabilise the valley’s centuries-old “Sufi” tradition.

There is a palpable concern that radicalisation is still taking place in certain institutions and “unofficial” madrassas.