Important to create an environment of peace and tranquillity in Jammu and Kashmir, Mehbooba Mufti said.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, addressing a gathering of policemen today, urged that local militants be brought back home instead of being "killed in encounters".
Ms Mufti also said that AFSPA or the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, the controversial law which gives soldiers special powers to search or arrest people based on suspicion, "is not permanent".
Speaking at the Police Commemoration Day Parade, the Chief Minister said: "Our children who have gone into militancy...my appeal to the police is...try to see that they return home...Those who are missing for years, whenever possible, instead of encounters in which they are killed, if you bring them back home and if they can become a part of the mainstream...If we can hand them a bat or a ball instead of guns..."
It is important to create an environment of peace and tranquility in Jammu and Kashmir, she asserted.
More than 90 people have died and over 12,000 have been injured in violent clashes in Kashmir since July 8, when Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani was killed by security forces. Most civilian injuries have been attributed to the use of pellet guns by the forces.
"I want to ban pellet guns but it is possible only if you people support the government. Our children are always used as shields. We can't force someone to talk by throwing stones on them. If we need a dialogue, we have to stop militancy," Ms Mufti said.
The comments come as a new video of the terror group Hizbul Mujahideen has surfaced on social media, showing a group of armed terrorists greeting and hugging each other in an orchard, in a reminder of the campaign by their young leader Burhan Wani.
22-year-old Wani actively used social media to recruit young Kashmiri men - he featured in videos and photos with weapons and taunting security forces, which were circulated on Facebook and WhatsApp.