Forgotten youth of Kashmir
International Youth Day
Daanish Bin Nabi
On 12 August, the Internati
World Youth Day has a different connotation for Kashmir for various reasons.
Around the world, the youth are sharing and discussing new ideas. They are talking about new concepts, innovations, development and progress. In Kashmir, the youth is struggling to find a space even for a free exchange of ideas. The space for a youth stands choked and there is such a controlled environment that a Kashmiri youth is not in a position to think of development and socio-economic progress.
The Kashmir conflict has claimed thousands of lives and coerced youth in activities which can’t be termed as constructive by any standard. This phenomenon often leads to disastrous results.
There is a negative impact of conflict on the youth of Kashmir, foremost among them being the increase in the intake of drugs and growing substance abuse.
According to a report on ‘International Year of Youth: Dialogue and Mutual Understanding,’ South Asia is one of the most youthful sub-regions of the world. It is home to 26 percent of the entire world’s youth, representing up to 20 percent of its population.”
However, the growing radicalization of the youth in South Asia is now having a major impact on the politics of the region. The youth is getting attracted to various extremists groups in this region. This negative social development must be handled with care, so that this dangerous trend can be stemmed in time.
It has globally been observed that conflict in any region has a devastating effect on the youth. It is the youth who are the first causality of the conflict. This is because all groups with vested interests try to use the energy and drive of the youth to target and weaken their opponent.
According to a CNS report, Indian Supreme Court lawyer Professor Bhim Singh found more than 400 people from Jammu and Kashmir languishing in different jails in India. He found 29 more Kashmiri youth serving life imprisonment in Asia’s largest jail, the Tihar Jail.
The wasted years of these youth must be taken into consideration, and immediate steps must to be taken to get these Kashmiris out of jails as soon as possible.
Prof Bhim Singh stated in his report that he found not only youth from Kashmir, but from different parts of Jammu province also been implicated in false cases. He stated that many Kashmiri youth had been lodged in jails in Varanasi, Allahabad, Vadodara, Bangalore, Jaipur, Lucknow and other jails. As per his records there are 25 Kashmir youth lodged in Mumbai jail, 15 youth from Rajouri are in Naini jail, and 12 more Kashmiri’s are in Gujarat jails.
Various independent forums of Kashmir including the Hurriyat groups have demanded that either the Kashmiri prisoners must be released immediately, or they should all be shifted to Srinagar Central Jail. Their requests have not been heeded.
While these youth are in jail, hundreds and thousands others have suffered torture and custodial killings. Many others are victims of pellets, and many unfortunate young girls are rape victims. A narration of their suffering will take years to be penned down, if any such exercise is ever undertaken.
Some decades ago, the youth in Kashmir used to look up to various intellectuals as their role models. But the bitter experience of the conflict and its ramifications has left the youth traumatized.
After the 2008 Amarnath turmoil in Kashmir, in which more than 60 youth were killed, the youth had high hopes from Omar Abdullah, the then chief minister of Kashmir.
Many political commentators had stated that they saw in him the shadow of Sheikh Abdullah.
Many youth liked his vigour. But later the youth felt that he let them down and did not address their core issues. Many youth of south Kashmir (mainly Pulwama town), saw Waheed Para, the “Political Advisor” to Mufti Sayeed, as a new ray of hope. Now, they are cynical about him too.
The youth now see the politics of both the regional parties of Jammu and Kashmir - National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as a tussle to only score points. This has led to a huge disappointment among the youth in Kashmir.
Instead of having a strong youth policy, they should come up with a ground working policy for the youth.
Unemployment is also on the rise in Kashmir. There is complete lack of any concrete steps in this direction by successive “elected” governments of Kashmir.
Now, conflict seems to have taken permanent roots in Kashmir. There is no immediate relief in sight to the unemployment problem either.
It is highly unlikely that the private companies will be interested in setting up their units in Kashmir, which makes the youth of Kashmir more vulnerable.
Since private entrepreneurship does not have a strong base in Kashmir, the youth does not have hope of local employment here either.
This is one of the reasons why there is a huge rush of youth when Indian Army advertises the posts. Employment and development are the two main aspects which can give the youth a feeling of security. But this does not mean that the political question of Kashmir should remain unanswered.
There is also a huge youth population in Pakistan Administered Kashmir. It is important to make the borders separating Kashmir irrelevant. A positive understanding of youth on both sides can play a pivotal role in building up a new South Asia.
A reconciliation process on both sides of the border is essential. The Kashmiri youth must be taken on board to build bridges between the two regions. To address the grievances of the people here and especially of youth the political question of the Kashmir has to be resolved first.
The theme of the 2015 International Youth Day is ‘Youth Civic Engagement’. Many programs including debates and seminars will be held today, but nothing concrete may happen to address the problems faced by Kashmiri youth.
Ironically, this has been the reality since August 2000, when United Nations announced that 12 August will be celebrated as International Youth Day.
Feedback at daanishnabi@gmail.com
Published in Rising Kashmir on 12 August 2015
