Foreign Pulse: Children of conflict

In Gurez, at the upper edge of northern Kashmir Valley, a serene calm prevails along the Line of Control. The undulating rhythms of the Kishanganga river that rolls through bowl-shaped valleys surrounded by the Himalayas on all four sides put Switzerland to shame. The only reminder of being in a high-security zone comes from the occasional rumblings of Indian Army trucks, concertina wires demarcating Indian territory from Pakistan, and the pitter-patter of artillery released by practice drills of both countries.

The local Muslims of the Dard-Shina tribe inhabiting this part of Bandipora district are constructing bright and pastel-shaded new homes, cultivating lush crops free from fear associated with one of the most militarised borders in the world.

However, the moment one comes down from the snow-capped heights into the lower reaches of Kashmir Valley, the conflict is simmering and boiling. The twist this summer is that the target of separatist politics is the distant government of Israel and its benefactor, America. Israel’s disproportionate attacks on civilians in the Gaza Strip have triggered rounds of agitated protests and marches after Friday prayers in mosques. Clerics are expounding with fury in their sermons about Jewish conspiracies to undermine Islam and reminding the faithful that they belong to a global brotherhood of Muslims called Ummat.

So impassioned and angry are the anti-Israel demonstrations that one young man was killed in police firing in Kulgam district on July 19. He died a strange martyr to a faraway cause that had no bearing on his own circumstances in the Valley. But for instigators from Islamist parties and pro-independence outfits like the Hurriyat Conference, it is necessary to mobilise Kashmiri youth on grounds that Muslims are victims throughout the world. They fan the flames by equating Kashmir with Palestine and misusing terms like “genocide” that is allegedly being committed both by India and Israel against innocent Muslims.

In conversations with Kashmiris, I ask why there are no riots in the Valley against atrocities and war crimes being committed against Muslims in Syria or Iraq, where the maximum civilian deaths and human rights abuses are being inflicted. The response I get is a shrug of ignorance. When the perpetrator of oppression against Muslims is non-Muslim (e.g. Israel), it fits the Hurriyat and its affiliates to immediately compare it to India’s “occupation” of Kashmir. But when brutality is being meted out by Muslims, such as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad or the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, against fellow Muslims (Sunnis or Shias), Kashmiri streets are mute and clueless.

Moderate Kashmiris scorn the “business” of stone-pelting mobs that help keep the separatist cause alive at a time when India is consolidating its control here. I witnessed first-hand three anti-Israel rallies in historically volatile and confrontation-prone areas of Pattan and Palhallan (Baramulla district), and in Sopore. The striking visual reality of these crowds is that youth vastly outnumber older people. The young men pumping fists and chanting slogans are not driven by knowledge about the situation in Gaza vis-à-vis Kashmir’s gradually improving human rights conditions. Rather, they are deceived by emotional, identity-based propaganda of firebrand mullahs or lured with the promise of a few hundred rupees.

Forty-eight per cent of Kashmiris between the ages of 18 and 30 are jobless. The plague of youth unemployment has pushed young men into drug abuse, anti-social behaviour and other “un-Islamic” paths. Educationists in Srinagar informed me that rioting is now a huge “money spinner” for all concerned. Hurriyat and its networks get paid by their Pakistani paymasters for stirring the pot and safeguarding their fading relevance, while the mobs of aimless youth are paid token “appearance fees” to express their frustrations.

Travelling through rural Kashmir Valley showcases a relentlessly depressing scene of 20-somethings loitering in packs with cellphones in hand and nothing to do all day long. Farming is unfashionable for these impressionable characters and tourism is spotty outside the mainstream trail of Pahalgam, Gulmarg and Sonamarg. Militancy used to be a means of self-affirmation for their older brothers and cousins. But with the Pakistan-sponsored jihad long past its romantic appeal, pressure is building up among youth who have scanty education and few avenues for work.

Villages in the Valley carry board signs of “Youth Employment Nodes” set up by the state government of Jammu and Kashmir, but these are cosmetic entities. One elder told me that blaming the Indian Army is an alibi “to cover up the governance failures” of local Kashmiri politicians who are gearing up for upcoming Assembly elections with great fanfare despite a record of colossal corruption and unfulfilled promises.

Kashmiris also bemoan the lack of a private sector in the Valley and the absence of investments from India Incorporated to rev up employment here. Dependence on the elusive “government job” is creating a parasitical and desultory mindset among the younger generation below the age of 35, who comprise 70 per cent of the Valley’s population.

Many Kashmiri teenagers express desires of becoming doctors and engineers, but few quality colleges and universities exist in the state. Youth who can afford it are leaving the Valley for higher education to other regions of India or abroad on one-way tickets, i.e. not returning to contribute to reconstruction after two horrific decades of insurgency.

Research on war-affected societies illustrates that nurturing human capital and boosting the morale of the youth hold the key to sustainable recovery. Delegating the fate of Kashmir’s children of conflict entirely to incompetent state governments in Srinagar is a mistake that India’s Central government and booming private sector can ill-afford.

A concerted national level public-private partnership which also draws in foreign investment to seed small and medium enterprises and gives Kashmir’s drifting youth a second chance to develop self-belief and emerge from the trauma of the war is direly needed. Such a move would also offer a welcome foil to the only face of India that Kashmiri youth encounter daily, the security forces.

The decline in armed violence in the Valley is a fantastic window of opportunity for a youth renaissance. If India misses this chance, the energies of the able-bodied and talented will remain wasted and be exploited by manipulators like the Hurriyat or jihadists who are striving to stage a comeback.

The writer is a professor and dean of the Jindal School of International Affairs