Life of Kashmiri youth

A  whole lot of expressions are used for the youth in Kashmir. The adjectives  and emotions of anger, frustration, depression, militancy-mindset  and so on,  are used for a majority of the youth  while voicing concern over emerging attitudes and approaches among them.  Most of the experts-political pundits, writers, intellectuals who  cut and paste analysis from the Internet  and  social media warriors- are obsessed with their make believe world that  no one knows Kashmir better than them.  It is sort of remote sensing  through which they view the Vale and its youth. Their being close to the environment of conflict  serves a little purpose in their understanding because  even the Valley-based experts get trapped into viewing the youth of today with their yesteryears, when the times were peaceful, or, by contrast the violent  times of 1990s when guns ruled  supreme. The new brand of youth is of a different make . Their environment is paradoxical. They think individually, keep the things to themselves  unless they appear on social media  where they give vent to their anger in a relief seeking exercise  from the suffocation that they find is killing their self. At the same time, they get worked up emotionally  at  what they see as torturous atmosphere  in which the pollution of killing and bloodshed forms the core.

Alienation is the most common phrase used to describe the emotional and psychological disconnect  of the youth to the normal life  and times.   The expanse of the alienation  overwhelms the definition of indifference  or isolation. Worst, it is seen as hostility to the  normalcy. A closer  peep into the psyche of the youth reveals a  mental make up of  so many wires  of thoughts crisscrossing  one another than it is difficult to untangle the whole thing and read it properly.

   

Their psychological removal from the environment around is woven into a host of conspiracy theories – the  awe-inspiring  influence of Pakistan  both as a political expression  and religious affinity. In short, it is seen as a disillusionment with India, and worse, it is rebellion against India.  Still worse, it is the thought  of picking guns or stones is motivated to neutralise the symbols of Indian soft and hard power, Worst,  it is the  thought of crushing  the idea of crushing the idea of India in Kashmir. This, too, has assumed mysterious dimension. If the idea of India is unacceptable, then is there any idea of Pakistan that lures them. Caught in this  dilemma, they are lost in the idea of nowhere. When the ” martyrdom”  too loses  its appeal, then what next ? That  is where the youth of the Valley is lost. Their dilemma is deepening.

Problems multiply  when the youth who have lost trust in the system that governs socio-political-economic environment of the place  becomes  a prison from where there is no  escape. This  impacts everything – the childhood dreams. Becoming a doctor and engineer  is not just an expression of pursuing these professions, but a definition for their  aspiration  for the future. It is  an investment  in the commitment to serve society. But the times are changing. Obstacle after obstacle stands  in between the childhood dreams  and the   definition of their ambitions.

Dreams can overpower the nightmares of the grim reality through which they pass every day. The lure of jobs and fat salary won’t work in the current environment. Even the  peaceful places and times offer no immunity from the psychological  impact of the surroundings. These surroundings are not confined to the immediate neighbhourhood. Social media has  connected the youth to the places all over  where  they identify themselves  with the victims of the situation. Since the social media has the power to play a limited picture  with a larger aspects retreating to the background, the youth  empathise with the conditions suffered by the victims.

As the amount of the victimhood is large, it cultivates an unbreakable solidarity with religious overtones, ethnicity  motivating them to the ” cause” phenomenon.

The nightmarish memories of the childhood spent  with  a real-time exhibition of the military and militancy  clashes, wails  of the kin of the dead,  funeral processions, coffins lowered into the freshly dug graves become a fellow traveller  for them. The journey  of the troubles is continuing with no milestones in sight. They are passing by the gravestones.

Governor Satya Pal Malik summed up this issue quite sensitively when he told interviewer Naveed Iqbal of  Indian Express that ” Right now the younger generation is living in the dark.” Hope he succeeds in bringing light to end darkness in their lives.

 binoojoshi61@gmail.com

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