“We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future”
Kashmir has been in a grip of longstanding conflict between India and Pakistan for several decades. The region has witnessed a surge in terrorism since the 1990s and the graph has been fluctuating between highs and lows ever since, assigning a fragile attribute to the region’s stability and internal security. The proxy war tactics of our western neighbor, its promotion & support to separatism and influence over media through terrorism, has painted the situation of Kashmir on the global canvas as a volatile and ambiguous one. In addition, the Indian Security Forces have been constantly projected as “heavy-handed” and “strong-minded”. Despite adequately addressing the terrorist part of the nexus, the Indian Govt and the Security Forces have got limited success in completely eradicating terrorism and sustaining normalcy, and it has been realised that one of the root causes of this unrest is not the terrorist itself, but radicalisation, which paves way for terrorism to thrive. Religious indoctrination and Radicalisation have been observed to be one of the prime reasons for the youth to pick up guns, in order to perform religious obligations or the grossly misunderstood ‘Jihad’. The role of religious institutions in radicalisation of youth cannot be ignored, as it is in these places of religious sanctity, where various interpretations of Islam directly influence the thought process of gullible and moldable minds. To add to it, the apparently ‘glorious’ propagandas of the hard-line Islamic groups such as Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI), Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), etc. have further accentuated the radicalisation process by providing the youth with a sense of purpose, identity and belonging, which they are unable to find elsewhere. Moreover, the fact that generations born after 1990s, have not experienced a normal lifestyle like any other citizen of the country, adds on to the disorder. In fact, the current situation is the ‘normal’, which leaves a lot of scope for influencing & radicalising the youth.
With the advent of modern technology, the avenues for radicalisation have grown manifold, social media being one of them. Glamorous videos of slain terrorists, propaganda videos of hardline separatists, videos of militant interpretation of Islam, etc. have crept into the hands of a young impressionable boy through mediums of platforms such as Facebook, Telegram, WhatsApp, etc. Unlike a few years ago, today if a local young boy desires to join the terrorist ranks, all he has to do is take a decision; all the other aspects, to include funding, training on weapon handling/ explosive fabrication, etc. will be taken care of through online platforms by the handlers sitting across the borders. All the above factors, work together in complete unison to ensure successful recruitment of youth into terrorist groups and their exploitation by the inimical agencies.
In order to address the issue of radicalisation, a multi-pronged approach is required to be adopted by the government, wherein all agencies must be co-opted to take bold steps towards economic development, infrastructure building, job creation, improved standard of education, promotion of sports & adventure, etc. Although after nomination of J&K as a UT, there has been a remarkable improvement observed in the overall situation, there is still a lot of scope of wholehearted efforts towards Kashmir’s growth and development. Youth needs to be positively engaged in constructive activities and guided with the correct perspective. Religious institutions need to be monitored to prevent them from promoting extremist ideologies and education system must incorporate topics such as History of Kashmir and India, True Meaning of Islam, open discussion on sensitive issues, etc. to impart clarity of thought and immunize young minds against false narratives. It must always be borne in mind that today’s turmoil is a product of more than three decades of proliferation of terrorism by the nexus. Attaining a permanent positive change will therefore require deliberate, dedicated and most importantly sustained efforts from all the stakeholders including the elders of the society, who are privy to the ‘good old times’.
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