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.
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