Click to play videoBajalta (J&K): Mohammad Sharief, a government employye, is a regular at radio recordings in Bajalta, appeals to all those who have joined terrorist outfits to surrender and return home.
Sharief's first message was aired last year for his nephew Shamim Ahmad, a Hizb-ul-Mujahedeen, militant in Doda. And, ever since then he has been urging youngsters to give up arms, a risk that he has decided to brave.
“The risk is always there. If your identity is exposed and if some terror outfits take notice, we run the risk of exposing ourselves and becoming a target. But we still brave it,” says Sharief.
Like Sharief there are more voices with emotional overtones that are aired throughout Jammu and Kashmir. Through the programme Awaaz De Kahan Hai, grief-struck families of those involved in terrorism try to reach out to their loved ones
The programme is being aired daily since 2000 and the recordings are mainly done at the doorstep of the affected families.
There have been 400 people who have surrendered in the state in the past four years. But can radio take a marginal credit for this?
“We try to reach over to the people who have crossed over the border or who are still hiding. They are in a fix and when they listen to their parents certainly they get affected. Some even come back home. Radio is just a voice. We cannot fight the gun, but at least influence the youngsters,” says Assistant Director All India Radio, Jammu and Kashmir, Shemender Kumar.
The radio, by playing high on the emotions, is trying to breach the walls of terrorism, reach out and bring people back home.
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