Overview

• The J&K government has approved the deployment of 4,000 ex-servicemen as static guards for vital infrastructure under district coordination.
• The Indian Army describes the initiative as a community-based security measure leveraging the experience of veterans in non-combatant roles.
• PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti has written to CM Omar Abdullah, opposing the plan and advocating for the inclusion of local unemployed youth instead.
• Mufti highlights J&K’s severe youth unemployment crisis, warning of its links to drug addiction and suicides, and calling it a social emergency.
• She argues that employing local youth in these roles could foster trust, inclusion, and shared responsibility, while addressing economic distress.