There is not a single political issue in this world as misrepresented as the Kashmir issue. The primary reason is that the two stakeholders have always gone to extremes to justify their ends of story. In this clash of opinions the cries of Kashmiris have always remained unaccounted for.
Pakistani media has always committed factual errors,be it flashing Palestinian images and claiming them as Kashmiris or bringing images from past and projecting them as recent.
On the other hand Indian media has always represented Kashmiris as naive and politically opinionated. Indians think of Kashmiris as brainwashed population,devoid of education and capability to think for themselves.
Whenever an image or video surfaces that shows young boys throwing stones at Central and State police the media makes it sure to state that they are doing it because of absence of jobs or economic support. Many people believe(without any source) that stone pelters are paid on daily basis.
There is fundamental problem with this. You can have a long discussion on whether it is right for them to pelt stones but to divert the whole discussion and choose to question the thing for which you have no source in first place is an intellectual dishonesty.The fact that people from upper class of society continue to join armed rebels furthur downvotes the claim.
The frustration of being misquoted and misrepresented in media frequently has rendered us helpless.
With the abrogation of article 370 we have seen majority of Indians supporting it mainly because they believe that it will uplift people of Kashmir. They believe that because of the laws it was impossible to acquire land let alone starting a private company. But what they fail to understand is that it was not the land acquisition law that stopped the investments in industry and IT sector. Rather it was ,and still is, the decades old conflict and violence that makes it bad choice for investment.
There comes another error with the claim that Kashmiris need to be uplifted any more than average Indian state. The people of Kashmir have been self-sufficient, so much so that the 6 month curfew in 2016 couldn’t affect their livelihood. Because the economy is agrarian there, the political tensions had negligible effect on the economy(except for tourism sector).
Unlike rest of India there is no problem of housing. In villages even those below poverty line have their own houses.
But there is one part that has never been discussed in mainstream media-the mental health of people.The turmoil has taken toll on the mental health of people. Having experienced or seen violence and assault in early childhood and then humiliation at the hands of security forces the current young generation has seen it all. The people are angry and frustrated. The curb on basic rights in the form of curfews,choking information flow,internet clampdown,nocturnal raids and arrests have left people fuming. And it is not just one time thing. In south kashmir internet clampdowns are as frequent as they come. On an average its one to two weeks per month.
The psychological condition in such climate of fear and anger is bound to get disturbed. With it comes distrust,paranoia and rumors.We have seen cases of PTSD,OCD,Depression and drug addiction.
Just few days ago The Lancet published an article (media link ) and months ago Medact published a report about the mental health crises in Kashmir due to war and violence.
Indian Medical Association took no time to disregard and discredit the The Lancet for their “breach of propriety in commenting on this political issue”.
It is easy to deduce that majority of the victims are children and teenagers. The elderly continue to find solace from sufism and religion rooted in our culture while the young find it hard to choose between modern and spiritual lifestyle. In such conditions demand for drugs is rocketed and youth continue to find other ways to calm their minds.
Disillusioned from democracy,having been betrayed multiple times in past, and agitated by use of force the young generation has grown disbelief in the democratic process of demanding rights.
Anarchists at heart and frustrated by the complications of conflict we the people of kashmir do not need jobs,we need therapists.And not your average therapist,we need the kind Goodwill Hunting had.
Ruins of war:
