Jammu & Kashmir Bank made a historic move towards the development of game of football in the state, when it initiated process of developing young pool of talented players and held an interactive session with former senior players, existing football team players and identified young talented football players at Bakshi Stadium Srinagar. The talent available in the state would be trained by professional footballers as part of this initiative for three years. 
J&K Bank Executive President, who is also Chairman of the J&K Bank Sports Board, Tafazal Hussain, launched the effort at a simple function in the Bakshi Stadium. While speaking on the occasion he said, "Being a conscious corporate citizen, under the guidance of our chairman and CEO, Mushtaq Ahmad, we professionalized our sports activities under the banner of J&K Bank Sports Board and introduced a talent hunt programme to identify the budding talent in the game of football for proper coaching and technical guidance so as to produce a quality pool of players that could represent not only J&K State at higher competitions but also become a part of our corporate football team". While addressing the bank's football team, he expressed hope that apart from ensuring impressive results on the field, the team members would stick to discipline and graceful attitude. 
The Bank's talent search committee in the first phase through a rigorous selection process shortlisted thirty probables from Kashmir region and in the second phase the bank is going to shortlist another bunch of talented boys from Jammu region in coming days. The shortlisted boys from Jammu and Kashmir regions would be tested for final selection as trainees in the promotion program. 
Various sports bodies including All India Football Federation and J&K Football Association have applauded the Bank for taking such a historic step. Commenting on this, President Jammu and Kashmir Football Association, Zamir Ahmad Thakur, congratulated Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Bank, Mushtaq Ahmad and the Bank's Sports Board Chairman, Tafazal Hussain, for taking such a step. He said that such youth development programmes are need of the hour and we have abundant football talent which needs grooming, guidance and basic infrastructure. "By initiating such steps J&K Bank football team would be on right course to qualify in near future to participate in the National Football League and could accommodate both junior and senior level teams" said, Zamir Thakur. 
Secretary of the Bank's Sports Board (BSB), Mohammad Amin Khan and incharge, Talent Search Committee, Showkat Khanyari were present in the interactive session.