Worried about J-K kids just like other children: Satyarthi

Kailash Satyarthi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 for waging a peaceful struggle to protect children from being exploited as labour, said that he is worried about Jammu and Kashmir kids like other children.

Indore: Nobel Peace Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi on Thursday said he was concerned about the children of Jammu and Kashmir just like their counterparts in other states, but refrained from commenting on scrapping the special status granted to the border state under Article 370.

He also expressed concern over the increasing cases of sexual abuse of children through online means of child pornography.

Asked about the situation in Jammu and Kashmir post the removal of Article 370, Satyarthi said, "Just as I care about children of other parts of the country, similarly I am also worried about the children of (J&K).

"However, I will not say anything about the political aspects of this case. But I definitely want every child in the country to be educated and safe and get all opportunities to move forward," he added.

"Kashmir is also a part of India. However, half of it is occupied by our neighbouring country (Pakistan)," said the child rights activist, who arrived to attend an event organised by a private school.

Pointing to developments after the withdrawal of J&K's special state, Satyarthi said, "We should look at the situation a little patiently. There is a crisis, but it is not going to last very long."

Appealing to give priority to issues related to child rights across the world, he said, "If all goes on at the current pace, despite achievement of targets of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) by 2030, 22 crore children in the world will be out of schools and 12 crore kids will be working as labourers."

Satyarthi said, "We are also demanding from the Government of India that a relatively large part of the budget be spent on education, health, and safety of children."