How to tackle Kashmir militancy? Youth need change, not surrender policies

This time, the youth has to be wooed and the realities of mass media mean that the government needs to 'market' its product efficiently

 

It is called the ‘New Age Militancy’. Youth who are younger than 20 years of age, indifferent to their parents’ pleas, are joining militant groups, only to be killed a few weeks later. Like Faizan Bhat of Tral who was all of 15, and remained a militant for two months before becoming a casualty statistic. More recently, it was Faid Mushtaq Waza of Khanyar who was 18 and was last seen on social media posing with a gun. This shift in militancy patterns has disastrous consequences for everyone, barring the militants’ leadership and their backers.

For Kashmiris, it’s yet another indication of the failure of the state. To the security forces, it means a compounded threat, since the youth are so much more willing to die for a cause they barely understand. For the jihadis, the death of a young militant is a cause for celebration. That means that a brother, father or a group of friends are likely to join before they too are killed. For the government, however, it can be both a problem and an opportunity. A problem, because tired old rehabilitation policies being regurgitated by police officials have little meaning to idealistic youth; opportunity, because imaginative measures have the potential to significantly change the situation, provided there is a willingness to learn lessons from the past.

Overview of surrender policies

The very first surrender policy announced on Independence Day in 1995 was under the Governor, General (retd) K.V. Krishna Rao’s administration. This virtually replicated the policies introduced earlier for Naxalites, with a one-time fixed deposit of Rs 1.5 lakh, a monthly stipend of Rs 1,800, and some vocational training. Some 2,229 militants surrendered under this first policy indicating a desire to change. However, accounts of that period indicate that promised incentives remained undelivered. For instance, banks refused to back a plan to provide loans to finance small businesses. Promised training suffered due to poor facilities and lackadaisical funding. A rehabilitation council provided minimal funds for widows or children of militants, not the ex-militants themselves.

Click Here  : Kashmir Youth