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FEATURE
By:
S. Zafar Mehdi Safvi
Pitiable plight of
Kashmiri youth
From the Stone Age to this
hi-tech age, man has trekked a long distance, and no wonder, today it
finds itself on the threshold of new discoveries and explorations of inexorable
fulfillment. In this cut-throat scenario of 21 Ist century, everyone
wishes to be second to none. This century belongs to youth, and India
being hailed as the ‘youngest country in world’, with over 71% population
(77 crore) under 35 age group), all eyes are glued on it to rise to the
opportune occasion and make maximum out of it. The youth of India at last
have reason to smile and skies to touch. In fact, skies are not the limit
for these confidence-personified youth. Allama Iqbal’s line “Sitaroon say
aagay jihaan aur bhi hay” aptly reflects their infatuation to explore
uncharted territories, and leave a trail. But the million dollar question remains: Can the
same apply to our Kashmiri youth, who think twice before leaving their
homes for college or university at morning, and probably thrice, before
daring to kick start their own independent small enterprise. Kashmiri
youth are no different from their counterparts in other states, they too
have their share of dreams, and they too aspire to be one of Buffets,
Mittals, Mendelas, Amartya Sens, and Tendulkars. They too have a burning
desire to contribute their bit to their ‘troubled motherland’. But to
their utter regret, future remains uncertain and bleak for them, as
always for decades now amidst the political turmoil in this spectacular
valley, once hailed as “Jannat-e-Benazir”.
Dreams
are the stuff we are made of, but lamentably most of Kashmiri youth over
decades have aged with their dreams either turning topsy-turvy or barely
being fulfilled. The exuberance of youth-power is yet to make its
presence felt in our strife-torn land. Our youth are still lurking in the
make-believe world of fantasies, as the situation on ground has caught
them off guard every time they have dared to dream big and put their best
foot forward. This pitiable plight of Kashmiri youth makes him perhaps
the destiny’s most soft-target and a vulnerable creature, while he cannot
help, only curse his fate for being born here.
The
catch word in this era of stiff competition is “exposure”, which our
youth still crave to get. There are no major national companies here, not
to talk of multi-nationals, which are making beelines in other parts of
country. There are no colleges imparting value based and quality
education relevant to the contemporary times. Colleges affiliated to
Kashmir University have still to cover miles before coming anywhere near,
say: St Stephens and LSR Colleges of Delhi University, St Xavier of
Bangalore and the likes. Then, there are strike calls by various political
parties, social and trade organizations every alternate day. The daily
doses of violence in the garb of IED blasts, encounters (fake or
genuine), rights violations by both ‘custodians’ and ‘breachers’ on
various pretexts further add to their woes. So in a horrible situation
like this, how could a person here get ‘exposed’ to epoch taking giant
strides in various spheres of life? How can ‘one’ (read: Kashmiri) even
imagine of checkmating his counterparts in other parts of country?
Dreams
are dime a dozen, it’s their execution that counts. The youth of Kashmir
have dreams too, but there is no light at the end of tunnel for them.
They do nurture lofty but realistic dreams of making it big at the top,
but due to “identity crisis” (swinging like an uneasy pendulum between
two South Asian estranged neighbors), non-availability of resources, lack
of proper guidance and ‘leadership’ and most importantly due to
capricious and volatile situation on ground, with bullets and bombs
ruling the roost, they regrettably fell short of translating their dreams
into vivid realities, to carve a future they would be proud of.
The
only option that opens the doors of ‘hope’ for Kashmiri youth to secure
their dreams from dying premature death is to bid adieu to their
war-ravaged motherland and carve a niche for themselves elsewhere in the
country or abroad. But this exclusive privilege is the copy-right of
upper-middle class youth and children of elites and bigwigs who can
easily afford to pursue their dreams anywhere away from Kashmir. These
“dreamt in Kashmir, and realized in Europe” stories unfortunately start
and end at these ‘big people’, while the rest of lower-middle class
league, who can barely afford it are destined to give up their pursuit of
dreams and take to
manual labor or roam around
on crowded streets in quest of livelihood.
Talent
is not the bar; it’s in abundance among Kashmiri youth. It needs to be
methodically explored and channelised, to help them realize their dreams
and secure their future. They need to be provided resources,
opportunities and stable atmosphere to showcase their mettle and switch
over from the world of fantasies to the real world, where a prosperous
and dazzling future beckons them. It will happen only when the ground
situation improves, violence takes a back seat, and the era of peace and
tranquility ushers in. Investors across the globe who have made big
difference to other under-developed states like Jharkhand and Uttar
Pradesh will feel free to make their foray into our state, and accelerate
the graph of development. This in turn will benefit our youth enormously,
who have long been deprived of it. When the leading IT giants like
Infosys, IBM, Wipro, International BPO’s, other private sector companies
set up their bases in Kashmir, our youth won’t have to wander from pillar
to posts in search of livelihood and curse their fate for not affording
to go to Bangalore, Dubai or Europe.
Hitherto,
our youth used to harbour dreams of either becoming Doctor “to help the
needy”, or Engineer. But now they dream big, beyond these
not-quiet-big-dreams of 21 st century. Thanks to Abid Nabi, a budding
pace sensation from Valley, Mehrajuddin Waddoo, a national team football
player, youth here are taking fanatical interest in sports and parents
have stopped scolding their wards for bunking school to play a match.
Qazi Tauqeer of ‘Fame Gurukul’- fame, Iqbal Khan of Star TV serials,
Muzammil Ibrahim, prominent figure in modeling world, also have inspired
some ultra-modern youth to hone their skills of singing, acting and ‘cat
walking’ respectively. But will Kashmiris really go ahead and imitate
these people, given the political hiccups, conservative contours of our
society? Many call it
West-inspired Bollywood onslaught on our traditionally rich culture. But
being already witness to inconceivable stuff like recently unearthed sex
scandal; this doesn’t seem to be a big deal now. But, then again the
number of those people is meager and the rest still lay at the mercy of
political situation on ground. If the atmosphere changes for better, they
can look forward to a gleaming future, but if these flip flops remain
intact, they will have to grow old with their cherished dreams being
trampled beneath them just like their pa’s and grandpa’s had.
Special
mention of our sisters who, after pursuing their degrees dream of landing
an excellent job, to enhance the chances of attracting better match.
While some manage to hit the arrow bang on, the dreams of many others end
up in bitterness.
Those whose dreams fail to materialize often feel disillusioned.
Some of those resort to practices that can earn them quick and mega
bucks. The recently unearthed sex abuse scandal in the land of Sufis and
saints stands eloquent testimony to this grave fact. Arguably, many of
the ‘victims’ involved in the scandal have been caught in the hellish
trap by blackmail and coercion from pimps and kingpins on the behest of
high profile goons, also involved in it. But there are still many who are
there by their will, and my point is directed at them. As reports are
pouring in, there are thousands of brothels operating in heart of city
and hopefully, it would be revealed after they are busted, as what
prompted them to dive into this ‘naked pool’, but this factor of ‘dreams
going bang’ holds much weight.
Kashmir
has acquired the dubious distinction of being second most corrupt state
in India, only after Bihar. C.M Azad has started a crusade against
corruption, but it’s understood that no public official will grease his
palms before asking him. The whole state machinery is knee-deep in
corruption, besides “favoritism” exhibited in allotment of govt. jobs is
on upswing. The educated and qualified youth are regrettably overlooked
and the blue-eyed boys of high-profile people are given preferential
treatment. Our poor youth fell short of mark on this scale too, as they
can’t afford to grease anyone’s palms and don’t always have links with
higher-ups.
Now
the all important question is: How can our youth decode their dreams into
reality and lay a concrete foundation for their future. As mentioned
already, talent is not a bar; it’s the situation on ground, a political
turmoil due to Indo-Pak logger jam that is the bed rock of all problems.
The rifts between two South-Asian estranged neighbors has rendered the youth
of Kashmir futureless. Govt. jobs have become exclusive property of
people who matter. Private companies still have inhibitions in entering
our markets, fearing terrorist attacks. Common Kashmiri youth still can’t
afford to pursue his career abroad, while the much-needed exposure is
missing here. Let’s hope the better sense prevails in the two countries,
they start worrying about wretched Kashmiris, rather than settling their
personal scores at their cost. They need to lend ears to the cries of ill
fated Kashmiri youth. Our youth also want to touch skies like their
counterparts in other places; they too have their share of dreams and
want to build future on them. Lastly, they have a request to New Delhi
and Islamabad: “We don’t want to get into autumn of our life waiting for
this imbroglio to be over. We have promises to keep and miles to go
before we sleep”.
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