Autonomy key to democracy: Ansari

Autonomy is not an exceptional principle in democracy,but an essential ingredient,said Vice-President Hamid Ansari at the Kashmir University convocation on Saturday. Ansari made a distinction between assimilation of minority groups into the dominant society and their integration without erasing identity.

Police had stepped up security after a University employee was killed in a blast while making an IED 2 km from the campus.

Ansari said the Government was committed to helping Kashmiri youth so as boost the states economy. There is no option but to reconstruct the economy of the state ravaged by two decades of militancy. We need to focus on creating adequate facilities for technical and vocational education,for skill upgrading and improving employability of youth, he said.