Youth have always been regarded as the greatest power and the backbone of every revolution on earth. Young minds filled with immense enthusiasm can turn things round. They have the ability to house the whole world. As very rightly said by Benjamin Disraeli “The Youth of a Nation are the trustees of posterity”. But what if those trustees of nation become numb and deluged amidst a situation of economical and political unrest? Does the extreme stress with which they live lead to any form of depression that gets them into drugs and other obsessions making it difficult for them to choose the right path? And how do we mobilize youth in such a situation for a change? Those are some of the important questions that Mr. Waheed Para, President J&K PDP Youth Wing would through some light on in this exclusive interview with Akhter H Bhat.
Akhter: What according to you is the general sentiment that prevails among the young crowds of Kashmir?
Waheed: As I see, there is loads of discouragement and helplessness among the youth in valley. Apart from the political instability that has deluged their political identity, inability of the government to provide them with better avenues of progress and development is another important aspect that explains their misery. Lack of jobs has only helped in the process of their deviation. Moreover, various schemes of rehabilitation started by the state and central governments didn’t make any difference due to the extreme corruption that has engulfed the state. In a state where PMT entrance test papers can be leaked and sold, people helplessly have to espouse unfair means to obtain a job knowing that, no-matter how eligible they are, they will not get it. Thus the youth have lost all their trust in the current system and therefore have lost their interest in the political situation thinking that it is all useless for them unless there is a huge change taking place in terms of the governance and centre’s approach to stabilize the situation.
Q2: Do you think the political unrest that those crowds have been living in has something to do with the increasing drug addiction in Kashmir?
Waheed: Thousands of youth have been missing for more than a decade and still there are no clues about them. Lots of Kashmiri youth were arrested on the basis of doubt and interrogated even if they didn’t have any terrorist links. There are thousands of mothers in the valley waiting to hear from the authorities about their sons who had gone missing almost a decade ago but only to hear nothing. Most of those mothers, wives or sisters have been put on prescribed steroids to keep them calm and going. Experiencing the daily odds of their life, a recognizable section of our youth has got involved into drugs to keep themselves out of the scary thoughts concerning the political and economical instability that they live in. The easy availability of drugs in Kashmir is catalyzing the phenomenon of drug addiction in the valley.
Apart from that, we also need good parenting in Kashmir. Why should a young Kashmiri get involved into drugs or into stone pelting? Why have we failed as parents in teaching our kids the moral values and norms of human civilization? I think that’s one serious aspect that we need to work out. We will have to definitely come up with various counseling programmes wherein parents would be assisted with the best ways of handling their kids in such situations. It also becomes very essential for our schools to include classes on moral education in such an escaping situation of drug addiction.
Q3: Why is it so easy to find drugs of addiction like hash, cocaine, brown sugar, heroine in Kashmir? Do you think insurgency has any relation with that?
Waheed: Corruption is the biggest reason. I think this existing situation of extreme corruption has made it easier for various drug peddlers and suppliers to propagate in the valley. There is also do doubt in saying that insurgency has played a catalyzing role. Insurgency has simplified the transportation of drugs through our borders. There are people who, in addition to getting guns and ammunition to the valley, also transport drugs from across the border in the name of what they call “jihad”. That’s so insane and inhuman. No religion permits you for any action like that. But sadly that’s what we have to face.
Q4: In this scenario of political instability , how interested do you think are the valley’s young crowds in politics and in various political campaigns organized by various political parties in J&K?
Waheed: Frankly speaking their interest level is very low. However, I am sure that they have discovered that being silent doesn’t help, so, I think we will have more and more youngsters participating in the political processes. They just need a better option and I think they already know who and what that is.
Q5: How difficult do you find it to mobilize young Kashmiri folks towards a change in the current situation?
Waheed: That’s indeed very difficult. But given an opportunity to work for the welfare of the state, I don’t think they would hesitate or shy away from that responsibility. The problem is that inspite of them being immensely interested in the development of Kashmir, their needs and deeds are being ignored. The approaches being adopted are vague and irrelevant. The feel that “no matter what ever we do, nothing is going to change” has made them act numb. But I am sure that everyone will do his bit if the approach of mobilization touches their hearts and minds. Last time we had seen a recognizable section of our youth showing their interest in PDP’s poll campaigning and this time I am expecting huge crowds to join us for a change that will not just be limited to the political situation but would also involve social and economical aspects of our society.
Q7: What are the various tools that PDP is planning to use for mobilizing young voters for the upcoming elections?
Waheed: We will be trying everything from traditional modes like door to door campaigning, on ground events, news media to the latest social media and SMS campaigning tools. However we do not want to keep our campaigns unidirectional. Apart from telling them about our aims and objectives, we will also try our level best to know things from them as well. We will be conducting seminars and open discussion events at different places across the state to let people speak about the issues of their concern. That will give them more freedom to disperse their feels and ideas while helping us to know the other side of the hedge at the same time. We are also planning to conduct surveys across the state of Jammu and Kashmir to know the concerns of gravity among our young crowds.
Q8: Finally, in a situation of this bi-polar sentiment where we have youth on one side with stones in their hands who have lost their trust in democracy as an answer to their prolonged misery and the process of elections on the other, why do you think a young Kashmiri should come out and vote for PDP in the upcoming elections?
Waheed: Simply for a big change. The change that will transform the whole picture of Kashmir, the change that will compel them to leave drugs and stones and fill their hands with pens, pencils and iPhones to write a new future for our state. They will come out to bring a change that will loosen the shackles of despondency and open the new doors of peace and prosperity for Kashmir.